Help! The Captain has Gone Crazy!
by acidfinn
Summary: Harper is sick of watching the same old thing every day. He decides to take things into his own hands, Trance goes along with him, but somehow things go very, very wrong...Epilogue uploaded!
1. Watching Them

A/N: The reason for this? God only knows.

Summary: Harper is sick of seeing Beka and Rhade lead each other on. He decides to take things into his own hands, but things go very, very wrong...

Definite Pairings: T. Rhade/Beka, a little Dylan/Beka (more may be decided)

**Help! Our Captain Has Gone Crazy!**

**By: OrionWolf**

**Chapter One: Watching Them**

As his eyes darted back and forth between them, a somewhat disgusted frown formed upon Harper's face. The shifty little engineer rested his chin on his hands and continued to study _them._

Surprisingly, Harper could have very sharp senses when he wanted to. Like now, as he sat inside the Eureka Maru, observing every little move _they_ made, breaking down each one and discovering its true meaning.

At first, it had been amusing to watch them like this, but now it actually _hurt_ Harper to watch to witness the way they treated each other. Ignorant, disbelieving and the slightest bit shy. It was sickening. Harper's eyes narrowed like poison darts. Why could they just admit to themselves (or better yet, to each other) what was already so painfully obvious...

"Harper? Why are you scrutinizing Telemachus and Beka?" asked Trance, suddenly appearing from out of no where.

Harper did not reply. He was completely engrossed in the conversation which had _finally _begun between Beka Valentine and Telemachus Rhade.

"So..." said Rhade, his voice trailing off.

"Yes...?" Beka replied, silently encouraging him to continue.

Rhade suddenly found himself unable to speak, instead, he simply stared at her. Beka shifted nervously underneath his gaze until finally she could stand it no longer.

"Um...I'll see you later," she said, somewhat coldly and then she stalked out of the Maru.

Rhade stood unmoving in the same spot for what seemed like forever, which—he figured—would probably be how long it would take for him to face Beka again. Slightly miffed, he too left the Maru.

Harper half-groaned, half-sighed so loudly that Trance jumped.

"Are you all right Harper? You sound sick..." she stated, a little worried.

"WHY CAN'T THEY JUST ADMIT THAT THEY ARE MADLY IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER AND LET US ALL HAVE SOME FREAKIN' PEACE!" Harper yelled.

"Wha...?" Trance blinked, taken aback by his sudden outburst.

Harper slowly slunk back down into his chair. He remained silent for a few minutes, then he looked up.

"Oh, hi Trance. When did you get here?" Harper asked.

For a fraction of a second, Trance felt like strangling him.

"Perhaps you should pay less attention to your crewmate's private business and pay more attention to what _you_ are supposed to be doing," said Trance, crossing her arms and motioning towards some of the Maru's wiring.

"Uh huh," Harper mumbled half-heartedly.

"Besides," Trance sat down next to him, "You are supposed to be fixing the Maru."

"Yeah? Well it's kinda hard to do that when there are so many distractions around here," he grumbled back and picked up a pair of pliers.

He caught Trance's offended look and was quick to react.

"Not that your a distraction...well, I mean technically you are, but your a beautiful distraction...unlike those two..." he said.

"And by "those two" you mean...Beka and Telemachus?"

"No...I mean Beka and That Damn Nietzschean."

"Must you call him that? It sounds a little crude..."

"It's not crude," he flashed her a cocky smile, "It's a very affectionate nickname that I have bestowed upon That Damn Nietzschean."

Trance couldn't help but laugh. Oh that Harper.

"But honestly, Trancie...when are they gonna..." his expression turned serious.

"Have you considered that perhaps Telemachus is not yet...over his last romance?"

It was a good point. Trance was like that. She always made good points.

"Louisa?" Harper looked at Trance like she was crazy, "C'mon...the boss could out do her any day...! Blind-folded with her hands tied behind her back!"

"Harper, Telemachus was in love with Louisa, those things just don't blow over. Dylan told me that Louisa's death is the whole reason that Telemachus started to drink so much."

"Yeah well...nothing lasts forever Trancie, and I know that better than anyone," was his reply, "And don't tell me you haven't seen the way that he looks at the Boss! I'd say that Beka has done a damn good job at distracting That Damn Nietzschean from his poor little lover's death!"

Trance pondered upon the subject for a bit and realized that, in a way, Harper was right.

_everyone_, Dylan, Rommie, Harper and Trance herself had picked up on the forlorn little glances that Beka and Rhade shot each other when they thought no one was looking. Trance was a little disappointed in both of them for believing that it was still a secret.

"I suppose that there is a certain degree of attraction between them..." said Trance, handing Harper a tool that he'd gestured too.

"Then what the Hell is taking them both so long to get it on?" Harper replied sharply.

"Excuse me?"

"Okay...I mean, Beka likes Rhade, Rhade likes Beka...where is the big plot-consuming, dramatic problem?"

"Perhaps coming to terms with their feelings for each other is difficult for them," suggested Trance.

"Well if ya ask me it's all a bunch of bull—"

"I didn't ask you though."

Neither friend said a word for a minute until finally Trance saw a wide grin spread across Harper's face.

"Harper...I don't like that look you're giving me...that's your 'I'm-gonna-do-something-that-will-get-me-in-trouble-and-Dylan-will-kill-me-for-it' look."

"Lighten up Trancie...I just figure that if Beka and That Damn Nietzschean can't get

together on their own, then maybe we could—"

"Are you suggesting that we play matchmaker?" Trance interrupted.

"Well..."

"Harper, if Beka ever found out, I don't even want to think about—"

"Don't worry your pretty, little golden goddess head, Trancie m'darlin'! Trust in—"

"The Harper, the Harper is Good."

Slowly, a very devious plan began to come together in the young crew member's mind.

* * *

A/N: I hope that was okay...this might turn into one of those things that I get completely obsessed with writing.


	2. Love Letter

**Chapter Two: Love Letter**

Sealed away in his quarters, Dylan sat on his bed, a framed photo of he and Sara in one hand, a glass of scotch in the other. He stared at the picture and felt a pit of nothingness begin to grow in his stomach, though he could not quite put his finger on why.

Well of course there _was_ Sara. He missed her, very, very much. But in the five years since he'd first been awoken from being frozen in time, he'd felt his need for his long-lost lover begin to fade. And at first he'd been upset about it, but with every girl he kissed---and there were many---he felt that need for Sara's diminish little by little. Until now, when he was unsure of what or _who_ he wanted in his life. Still, at the same time, he felt a little like it was betraying the memory of his fiancée thinking of being with someone else.

Dylan had spoken to Rhade about it a few times, the Nietzschean always seemed to have a much more calmer grasp on situations.

_Except when it comes to Beka_, Dylan smirked a little remember when a week ago, his First Officer had stepped into Command wearing a rather showy top and Rhade had suddenly not been able to move for fear of tripping over his own feet.

However, Rhade had given Dylan many relevant points to ponder upon. First of all, Sara had continued on with her own life three hundred years ago after Dylan disappeared. There was also the fact that Dylan could turn nearly every girl's head when he passed by. He figured that it was all the life-endangering action that came in being associated with a man who was trying to rebuild the Commonwealth. Other people might have said differently.

"Dylan?"

He looked up to see Rommie's hologram form in front of him.

"Yes Andromeda?"

"You have been in here for the past two hours, just checking in on you," she said.

"I'm fine."

She glanced at the picture of Sara in Dylan's hands and drew her own conclusions.

"All right," and she disappeared, leaving Dylan to wonder why his ship had been wearing such a strange expression on her holographic face...

Later that evening, Rommie and Beka sat in the mess hall observing Harper, who was scribbling something onto little pieces of paper, then re-reading them, shaking his head, crumbling them up and tossing them away.

"What do you think the cunning engineer is up to now?" asked Rommie.

"Probably something that Dylan will hurt him for later," Beka replied, shaking her head.

"Oh...so then, you don't think we should interfere?"

"Nah...if it has anything to with us, we can kill him after Dylan severs him."

"Got it."

_Dear Beka..._

Harper chewed on the end of his pencil thoughtfully.

_I've been hiding this for awhile from you but I really like you and..._

He looked up and his eyes flashed as he saw Rhade casually walk across the Mess Hall whilst taking side wards glances at Beka. Harper nearly broke his pencil.

_...and I haven't told you this because I am one Hell of an idiot and I refuse to give anyone, especially that brilliant little engineer Harper, any peace!_

Harper dropped his pencil and ripped the paper to shreds. This whole innocent, school boy crush thing That Damn Nietzschean was doing was driving him insane.

"Are you _sure_, we shouldn't say anything?" Rommie asked Beka again, the two of them watching from afar as Harper continued his wild attack on a piece of paper.

"Uh..." Beka's eyes were wide with surprise, "That display of...anger, does seem pretty Harper like. Maybe he's trying to draw you and just can't get your battle blades right..." Beka giggled a little at her own joke.

"That's not—"

"Hello!"

The two women saw Trance sitting in front of them.

"When did you get here?" asked Rommie.

"Oh just...um, what is Harper doing?" Trance's own eyes fixed themselves on to frustrated little engineer.

"Well you see, Harper is trying to draw the Andromeda and he can't"

"We don't know," Rommie cut Beka off and glared at her.

"Why don't you find out?" Beka suggested, "_You_ certainly seem to be one of Harper's favourite people _Trancie_," she emphasized Harper's fond nickname for Trance.

Even Rommie laughed a little, and she stood up and followed Beka out of the Mess Hall. Trance pouted a bit, but went and sat near Harper anyways, who was practically hyperventilating.

"Is this about Telemachus and Beka?" she asked softly.

"WOULD YOU STOP CALLING HIM THAT!" Harper screamed, simply because he felt like screaming, not because he really cared what Trance called That Damn Nietzshean.

"Why?" Trance looked more curious that shocked at his screaming, "Telemachus is his name isn't it..."

Harper simply glared at her for a few minutes. Then, he slowly sat back down into his chair and took a few deep breaths. Trance watched him closely, perhaps she was awaiting an apology from him for yelling at her.

Instead he grabbed another piece of paper and began writing again.

"What are you writing?" asked Trance, peeking over Harper's shoulder.

Her eyes skimmed over the letter and then widened in surprise.

"A love letter?" her mouth hung open.

"Yeah..." Harper sighed, "But it's not coming along so great..."

"Dear Beka, please try to understand, I wish I had the courage to tell you all of this in person..." Trance read aloud and then smiled as she read the rest in her head, "Oh Harper! That is so romantic! But...I never knew that you felt that way about Beka..."

"I don't," was his flat reply.

Trance looked somewhat relieved, and Harper knew that he would never quite understand why.

"It's supposed to be from That Damn Nietzschean..." Harper admitted glumly.

"Telemachus?" Trance frowned a bit, "Somehow, a love letter doesn't seem like something he would do..."

"Which is why it is so difficult for me to write one from him."

Suddenly, a little light bulb went off in Trance's head.

"Why don't you write the letter from Beka to Telemachus instead?" she suggested.

"Hmmm...never really thought of it that way?" Harper said.

He began to chew on his pencil again, Trance smiled and sat down again across from him. It wasn't long before Harper began to write again.

"Hey..." Harper stared at the letter once he'd finished it, "This isn't that bad...I still kinda doubt that the Boss would write a love letter other...but I suppose she'd be more likely to do it rather than That Damn Nietzschean."

He passed it to Trance who read at it quickly.

"Yeah but..." she grabbed his eraser and erased the first line which contained only the words Dear Rhade.

Then she gave it back to him.

"I think it makes it sound more Beka-like," Trance shrugged.

"Well...I guess you're right, you are after all female, you probably know best."

Trance pulled out a few chocolates from her pocket and popped one into her mouth, "Want one?"

"No thanks," Harper replied.

"Here..." said Trance, taking the note and putting it inside an envelope, "Now how are we going to get this to Telemachus..."

Suddenly, the ship jerked and Harper fell out of his chair. Trance, who had better balanced, lurched forwards.

"What was that?" asked Trance, pulling himself to his feet.

"All crew report to Command," they heard Andromeda's voice.

"How much do you wanna bet that it's some corrupt Nietzscheans feel like raining on our parade?" grumbled Harper.

"They're not so bad," Trance smiled, but she had a feeling that he couldn't hear her as he stormed out towards Command.

Trance followed him and halfway there, she met Dylan.

"Want a chocolate Dylan?" asked Trance.

The Andromeda was hit again, throwing both of them into a wall.

"Somehow I don't think that this is the time for chocolates Trance," said Dylan, getting up.

"Somehow, I do," Trance replied, shoving one into his mouth and then she ran off.

Dylan noticed that she dropped something. It was an envelope. He picked it up, shrugged and shoved it into his pocket for later. Beka ran past him, acknowledging him only with a simple nod of the head. Suddenly, Dylan felt a little strange, light-headed almost, but he returned Beka's nod anyways and ran on after her.

Suddenly, Dylan realized how beautiful his second-in-command was.


	3. Beka Darling!

A/N:PEOPLE REVIEWED! Now I'm all excited...

prin69: You totally ROCK! You've freaking reviewed everything I've written! I love all your fics too! Thanks so much!

Janet: Thanks for all your sweet comments! Much appreciated!

bunny-bot: To answer your question...Harper's not actually trying to draw Rommie in her android form, he's trying to draw the actual warship Andromeda. And y'know, can't get all her attributes right. I actually didn't find it so funny o.O Thanks for the review!

Jamieson Z: I'm so glad you liked this! Yes...I did make the characters a little (or a lot, I'm not sure) of character, especially Harper because he's a main part of the plot. I agree with your criticism...it's just kinda hard to make them fit the story! Thank you!

* * *

**Chapter Three: Beka Darling!**

"Well...that certainly was..." Beka blew a stray strand of blonde hair out of her eyes.

"...Interesting," Dylan supplied the word for her, sighing slightly.

Dylan, Beka, Rhade, Harper, Trance and Rommie all stood in Command, trying to process what had just happened through their brains.

"Did that just...did they actually _beat _us?" asked Harper, running a hand up his face.

"I think so..." Trance replied softly.

It had started out quite simple. A few Nietzschean cruisers who began firing on the Andromeda, which of course had returned fire when suddenly a slip stream portal opened and literally hundreds of Nietzschean ships began pouring out. The Andromeda of course, being one of the most powerful ships in the Known Universe, had put up one Hell of a fight.

Until the Nietzscheans had revealed their secret weapon.

God only knows what they had called it, but it was probably one of the most destructive weapons ever created. It was right up there on the list with nova bombs. In fact, none of the crew was exactly sure what had happened, one minute they were fine, the next, they were knocked out and lying uselessly on the floor of Command.

"Rommie?" asked Dylan, pulling himself up off the ground.

She was on the floor with her legs stretched out in front of her and her arms propping herself up.

"You were out for hours," she said quietly.

Dylan sighed and ran one of his hands through his disheveled brown hair, "Where are we?"

"A new system," replied Andromeda, "My sensors have been severely damaged, I cannot confirm our exact location."

"Yeah? Well that helps," Harper mumbled as Trance helped him up.

"How did we get here?" Dylan enquired to no one in particular.

"I pulled us into slipstream at the last moment. Whatever weapon was used on us, it took longer for it to affect me the way it affected you," answered Rhade, "Must have something to do with me being Nietzschean."

"It always does, doesn't it?" said Harper, glaring at Rhade who easily ignored the comment.

"How bad is it?" asked Beka, trying to change the subject.

"Well..." Harper stared a small silver screen, "Looks like almost all of the main thrusters are damaged, the weaponry wiring is completely fried, sensors are offline, slipstream drive is---"

"We get the point Harper," said Dylan, "Do what you can to fix it."

"How long do you think we'll be stuck here?" asked Trance, worried.

"With the slipstream core damaged as badly as it is, it doesn't look like we'll be going home for Christmas..." Harper explained, and then seeing everyone's blank looks, he decided to rephrase his sentence, "We'll be stuck here for a few months at the least."

Dylan sighed again as everyone else in the room hurried to do whatever they could to improve their situation, if that was possible. He then looked to his right and noticed that Rommie was still on the floor.

"Rommie?" he crouched down next to her and when she didn't acknowledge him, he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry Dylan..." she said, not looking at him.

"This isn't your fault Rommie," he said, "You are not to be held responsible for every single mishap on this ship, is that understood?"

She nodded and smiled weakly at him.

"Good," he returned her smile and placed his hands under her arms to pull her up even though he was quite aware that she didn't need to be helped.

"Dylan? Harper says that communications is jammed so we can't contact anyone for help right now," Beka told him.

Upon hearing her voice, Dylan felt a strange feeling consume him...suddenly he_had_ to see her face and was standing next to her in the blink of an eye.

Rommie wasn't quite sure what had happened, she'd been enjoying her close proximity to Dylan and had actually let him pull her up, resting her entire weight on him when all of a sudden, he had dropped her.

"Beka..." Dylan said in a low voice.

"Yeah Dylan?" Beka replied, barely even looking at him.

"I never noticed..." he continued, feeling lightheaded, "I think..."

Beka turned and stared at him, confusion filling her eyes, "Dylan? Are you okay?"

"Wow, your gorgeous..." he said.

And then collapsed.

At the sound of his body hitting the floor, everyone—who had previously been completely absorbed in what they were doing—turned and stared at his limp body. Beka's eyes were wide with shock as she found herself not knowing what to do. Finally, someone gathered their wits and hurried to Dylan's side.

"Dylan?" said Trance, turning him over and placing two of her fingers on his wrist, "I think he fainted, we should get him to Med Deck and find out why."

Rommie managed to stand up again and helped Rhade carry Dylan out of Command.

"What was that?" asked Harper, coming to stand next to Beka.

"I..." her voice trailed off for a minute, "He just...he just started talking to me and then he told me I was gorgeous and...and then he just fainted!"

"Yeah...uh..." Harper exchanged glances with Trance before turning back to look at Beka, "Usually men don't faint after complimenting women."

"That's what I thought," Beka replied, "It was weird though, he looked sorta like he was in a daze."

"Well, we'll find out," Trance smiled and walked out of Command to go check up on Dylan's state.

* * *

Forty-five minutes after Trance and Rommie had first stepped into the infirmary on Med Deck, they walked back into Command to inform their fellow crewmates about Dylan's state.

"So? Is he all right?" asked Harper.

"Um..." Trance looked at her feet, "Physically, he's fine..."

"And..."

"Well..."

"Yes..."

"You see..."

"_Trance!_"

"He's completely delirious!" Rommie shouted, looking like her head might explode.

"Excuse me?" asked Rhade.

"That's what I said," Trance mumbled.

"He woke up a long time ago...and all he can do is cry out for you!" Rommie shouted again, pointing at Beka.

"WHAT?" yelled Beka, Rhade and Harper all at the same time.

"Exactly," Trance whispered.

"_Me_? Why me?" Beka asked.

"I don't know," Rommie said snidely, "All his tests have come back clean and—"

Just then, Dylan burst into Command, a bouquet of roses in one hand, a box of chocolates.

"How very cliché," joked Harper and then his face grew serious, "Hey...those chocolates are from my secret stash!"

"Beka!" yelled Dylan and he was next to her in one bound, "Oh Beka! How I've missed you!"

He dropped what he was holding and took her hands.

"Beka, darling...I simply cannot bear for us to be apart any longer! Your enchanting beauty has captivated me!"

Harper stared with shock, his mouth wide open. Trance had an undecipherable expression on her face and both Rhade and Rommie looked thoroughly upset.

"Uh..." Beka was wholly unsure of what to say.

"I can see you are speechless," said Dylan standing up and wrapping his arms around her, "Don't worry Beka dear! You don't have to say anything! I already know you love me!"

Dylan hauled her out of the room, and oddly enough, no one could find the ability to stop them.

And once they were gone, Harper was the only one who could find his voice and he said very, very quietly:

"Our Captain has gone crazy..."

* * *

A/N: Uh oh, what's wrong with Dylan? Why is he suddenly obsessed with Beka? Is there jealousy somewhere? Is anything even wrong with Dylan? Will I ever start writing chapters of decent lengths? 

Only time will tell.


	4. Oh Dear

A/N: More reviews! I have been _encouraged_!

Eris86: I couldn't agree with you more! More weirdness and deliberate attempts to make the 'Drom crew look like complete and total morons will definitely for sure!

TranceGemmy: I'm glad you think it's good!

LadyBianca: Yeah...funny, I always seem to think it's time for chocolates...heh.

RagdollStuffy: Y'know it's weird...this is my first humor piece ever, I didn't know that people actually found it that funny...not that I'm complaining. Thanks!

Thristle: There's definitely more to come! Stay tuned.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed! Your thoughts on this fic are very much appreciated! I do my best to put constructive criticism to good use so go ahead and nit pick at my various mistakes (as I'm sure there are many). Now without further ado...

* * *

**Chapter Four: Oh Dear...**

"They've been in there for _five_ hours! Five! Can you hear me, _five hours_!" Rommie screamed at...well, at herself.

"I'm sorry, I cannot allow you into Dylan's quarters, he has completely locked me out. Even if I wanted to get in, I couldn't," Andromeda's hologram replied.

"Argh!" Rommie threw up her hands in frustration, "This is hopeless!"

"Why is it so important that you speak to Captain Hunt at this _exact _moment?" asked Andromeda.

"Uh..." if Androids could blush, Rommie was blushing, "Just...because..."

"Because why?" Andromeda arched one holographic eyebrow, "Is this because you are truly worried about Dylan's own welfare or because you are worried that his newfound feelings for Beka will—"

"He does _not_ have feelings for Beka!" yelled Rommie.

"Oh really?" was the dry reply, "And what else do you think Dylan's earlier _performance _in Command suggested?"

"You don't honestly believe that that was actually _Dylan _in there?"

"Well...it certainly looked like him to me? And I should know..."

"That's not what I meant!" Rommie raised her voice again, "It's been five years since Dylan met Beka, and all of a sudden he's declaring his undying love for her?"

"Near death experiences often trigger certain properties in people's lives and forces them to rearrange their priorities," the hologram explained calmly, "Perhaps Dylan has realized that he and the crew are not going to live forever and is therefore _addressing _certain _emotions _he might have for other people. Specifically, Beka."

"Yeah but..." Rommie looked down and then came up with another point, "Andromeda, he called her _enchantingly beautiful_! You can't honestly tell me that Dylan would say something like that if he was in his right mind?"

"Why not?" she shrugged, "He's said it before, to Sara."

"We only heard him say it once! And that was by accident! It seems at little farfetched that he would say something like that in front of the entire crew!"

That was true. Neither one could disagree with that point, Dylan was usually a little bit more conserved than that.

"I think that you are jealous," Andromeda stated flatly.

"What? What does that have to do with anything? I am simply concerned that Dylan being locked away in his quarters with _Beka _is...unhealthy," Rommie replied, sharply emphasizing Beka's name with a certain disgust.

"Are you sure? Dylan has been very stressed out lately, what with the Commonwealth, and the Nietzscheans, and the Magog Worldship approaching. Perhaps it's for the best that he's finally taking time to relax—"

"But with_ Beka Valentine_!" Rommie screeched in a nearly animal-like way, causing her hologram's eyes to widen and then grow back to their natural (and completely artificial at the same time.

"A ship's android. Madly in love with her own captain and jealous that he is madly in love with his first officer," Andromeda could only shake her head.

"I am not madly—"

She was cut off when Rhade stormed past her, his eyes flaming with anger. He didn't even notice Rommie standing there, instead, he took one look at Dylan's door, growled incoherently and then marched off.

"Looks like your not the only one who's upset with the current situation," Andromeda smirked and disappeared.

Rommie felt like steam was going to come out of her ears.

"This is...it's so...he shouldn't be..._argh_!" she screamed out her anger.

"Hey, hey, hey! Romdoll! What's—"

"GO AWAY!" she cut off the smooth male voice that could only belong to one person.

Harper stared at his beautiful—but deadly—handiwork and nearly had a heart attack, he could even remember ever seeing Rommie so angry. Without even looking at him, she took one last look at Dylan's door, growled much like Rhade had, and stormed back down the corridor.

"She angry. Should we take cover and protect ourselves before she blows our heads off?" asked Trance, who'd been previously traveling to Engineering with Harper.

"Trust me, when my Romdoll's angry _nothing_ can give you enough cover from her in all her sexy, stay-out-of-my-way-or-I'll-blow-your-heads-off, glory," replied Harper, still getting over the shock of Rommie's outburst.

"I never predicted that she'd be so upset..." said Trance, looking at her feet.

"How could you have known, it's not like you planned it," he answered and pressed his ear up against the doors to Dylan's quarters.

"Harper! You shouldn't be—"

"Come here!" he pulled her towards him and pushed her head against the door, "Hear that?"

"Hear what? Harper this is wrong, we can't just eavesdrop on Beka and Dylan! Besides what if one of them tries to open this—Ah!"

She and Harper fell into Dylan's quarters when the doors suddenly swished open. Beka stepped out and looked around with an odd expression on her face, just then she realized that Harper and Trance were lying in a tangled heap at her feet.

"What are you two doing?" asked Beka suspiciously.

"Uh...we were just..." Harper stopped when he saw Dylan lying, seemingly unconscious, on the floor of his quarters, "Uh, Boss...why is Dylan knocked out again?"

"Oh well..." Beka blushed a little and then turned around and began to walk away hastily, "Never mind!"

Trance looked at Harper who grinned and said:

"How much ya wanna bet that Dylan came onto the Boss even _harder _than before?" he laughed mischievously.

"That's not funny Harper," she said, and stood up, rubbing her sore head.

"C'mon Trancie..." Harper replied, mimicking her actions, "Captain Dylan Hunt. Out cold on his floor because his second-in-command him when he tried to feel up her—"

"Harper!" Trance replied, though she had to hide a little smile as she ran to Dylan's side.

"Are you sure he isn't dead?" asked Harper, nudging Dylan's limp arm.

"Stop kidding around," she replied and Harper smiled when he realized that she was trying desperately not to burst out laughing.

"Finally! Someone who thinks I'm funny!" he grinned.

"Honestly Harper, just be quiet and help me get him to Med Deck...again," Trance commanded, trying to be serious, but failing quite miserably.

* * *

"Well...I'm exhausted..." said Harper, falling into a chair.

"Same here," Trance agreed.

Quite some time later, Trance and Harper had _finally _managed to get Dylan all the way to Med Deck. They had been on their own while trying to transport Dylan from his quarters to Med Deck, and it had been quite a challenge. They'd both realized that first of all, even with both of their combined strength, there was simply no way that they would be able to carry Dylan all the way from practically one end of the Andromeda to the other. At least not without ripping all the muscles in their bodies, which was something they tried to avoid on a daily basis.

Help from any of the other crew seemed out of the question. Since neither Harper nor Trance were interested in losing their heads to one of the Andromeda's internal defense systems, asking Rommie to lend her artificial super-strength she was built with wasn't going to work. Beka had sealed herself away in her quarters and refused to come out of them, Harper had begged and pleaded and in the process, had lost most of his dignity, but Beka still refused to help. Telemachus Rhade had disappeared all together.

So in the end, if anyone should've asked why oh why, a little blonde engineer and his golden alien partner-in-crime substitute were _dragging_ their Captain up and down the Andromeda's hallways, they would receive a tired, but angry response along the lines of: "SHUT UP!"

"Is there even the _smallest_, most remote chance that one day, when we're old and wrinkled and need to be fed through tubes inserted in our stomach, that we can sit back and laugh about this?" asked Harper.

"Doubtful," Trance replied.

"That's what I thought."

"So what's your take on this whole situation?" Trance asked him after a few minutes of a tired silence.

"What? Y'mean Dylan going all 'Oh my God I just realized after ten years that Beka Valentine is _female_ and therefore I am required to kiss her before I get killed in some horrible train wreck'?" he ask laughing at his description of Dylan's display of his_ desires_.

"Umm...yes..."

"I think that Dylan was bitten by some exotic bug that's causing him to go into a state of insanity...not that he's never been somewhat insane at all...what with throwing us into life-threatening situations every day..." Harper's voice trailed off, "To be honest, I don't really have an opinion on him and Beka together...I always new that one day Dylan might wake up and realize that his pilot has y'know...female assets..."

"But..." Trance encouraged him to continue.

"Well I am, Rhade isn't so pleased with this and Rommie looked like she was going to fry us all so..." Harper went on, "And besides, after all the work we went through to write that letter...say...did you ever get that to Rhade?"

"Um, well, about that letter..." Trance shifted in her seat nervously.

"Yes Trance?"

"It didn't exactly get to Rhade...you see...I...I think..."

"_Trance_!"

"Dylan has it!" she blurted it out and then turned and took at Harper's response."

"Well no wonder he's suddenly obsessed with Beka! He has obviously had feelings for Beka for a long time now and when he read that letter he must have...wait, didn't we address it to Rhade?"

"Yeah...but remember when I erased the first line of the letter?" Trance's voice grew softer.

"Yes..."

"Well...I kinda erased Rhade's name off the front of the envelope."

"You did _what_?"

"I'm sorry..." Trance apologized meekly, "I thought it would make Beka seem more...mysterious."

"Then you should've erased _Beka's_ name! Not _Rhade's_! Now Dylan's going to think that the letter was meant for him! Beka might not even return Dylan's feelings even in the slightest bit."

"Where is he?" Rommie burst into the room, "Where's Dylan?"

Both Harper and Trance pointed to the room where Dylan lay, still unconscious, in a bed. Rommie didn't even reply to them, she just marched off in the direction they'd shown her.

"So now, we have a jealous Nietzschean, an extremely pissed off—and not to mention, hot—android, a lovesick and currently unconscious captain, one...well...I don't really know what to say about Beka...and other completely innocent crewmembers—that's you and me—who are stuck in the middle of what may be the worst disaster we've come across," Harper said, feeling quite proud of himself when he'd delivered the entire mouthful.

Trance's delicate features were etched in worry, "Oh dear..."

* * *

A/N: I wasn't even going to post another chapter until this weekend but...what can I say?

The reviews spoke for themselves. How on Earth could I have possibly disappointed the public?


	5. Priorities

A/N: Yeah...another chapter...school starts for me next Tuesday so I'm trying to update as much as possible before I get buried in homework. . 

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed!**

**Chapter Five: Priorities**

Rommie held Dylan's hand in her artificial one as her gaze washed over his body for the millionth time that hour.

"Wha..."

Rommie's head snapped up at the sound of Dylan's voice and she realized that he was coming to.

"Dylan!" she squealed, a little louder and with more emotion than she had meant it to be.

He opened his eyes and stared at her, her beautiful smile, elegant features, sparkling eyes...

"Beka?" Dylan stared at her and then asked, "Beka? Are you there?"

Rommie's mouth fell open and then she closed it while imagining all the possible ways to murder Beka...

"Beka..." Dylan cried out almost desperately.

Rommie frowned when she noticed that he was still staring straight at her and calling her Beka all at the same time.

_He's still delirious_, she thought, and suddenly, an idea came to her head.

"Yes Dylan," Rommie replied, tuning her voice so that it sounded like Beka's "I'm here..."

Slowly, she began to lower her face...

And then Trance walked in.

---------

Telemachus Rhade sat in the Maru fiddling with his fingers.

It was actually quite a humorous sight, to see a Nietzschean of his stature have nothing better to do than stare around at the hangar whilst playing with his fingers. That was the main reason that when Seamus Harper stepped into the Maru that afternoon, he burst out laughing.

Rhade nearly fell off his chair, "Harper! Don't sneak up on people like that!"

Harper stopped laughing and stared at the taller man. Since when were Nietzscheans _ever_ snuck up on?

"You didn't hear me coming?" asked Harper, bewildered.

"No I was...busy," Rhade replied.

"With what?" Harper laughed again, "Testing the durability of your fingers?"

"Shut up," Rhade barked and crossed his arms.

"Ehh...calm down, I just came to get something for Trance," Harper replied, holding up one of her plants for him to see.

"Whatever."

Harper shrugged and began to exit the Maru, but just before he left he yelled to Rhade over his shoulder:

"Y'know, it's not long before Beka falls for all of Dylan's attention. From my experience, and it's very wide, women don't like to wait forever!"

Rhade would've yelled a retorting statement right back at Harper, but the doors to the Maru slid shut before he could say anything.

"This is ridiculous," Rhade growled, but some part of him knew that Harper was right.

------------

"Rommie?"

Rommie looked up, her hair falling into her face in the process, "Oh...hi Trance."

Trance, who was oblivious to Rommie's intentions, simply took a split-second glance at Rommie's fingers, intertwined with Dylan's and then noticed that the Captain was awake.

"Welcome back Dylan," Trance smiled despite the look of confusion on his face.

Dylan kept his eyes focused on Rommie, "Beka?"

Trance saw the way that Rommie's face fell, though the android tried her best to hide it.

"No Dylan," Trance said softly, "That's Rommie."

"Where's Beka then?" he asked, his voice breaking a little.

"Beka..." Trance's voice trailed off a bit, "Beka is—"

"Right here," answered a familiar voice.

Indeed she was, all three of them turned to see the tall blonde woman standing in the doorway looking slightly pitiful.

"Beka!" Dylan broke into a smile when she approached and took his other hand.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I knocked you out."

"Don't worry about it, I'm with you now," he whispered softly, gripping her hand the same way he had been gripping Rommie's a second ago.

Rommie saw this and without a word, she got up and left, but before she exited the room, she turned at stared at them for a minute. Trance looked up at her and they exchanged sad looks before Rommie fled.

Trance sighed and looked back at Dylan, who was sitting up now and stroking the side of Beka's cheek.

"You are so beautiful..." he whispered.

"Umm..." Beka looked down, unsure of what to say, "Thanks..."

Dylan smiled in response, and leaned in closer for what seemed to be obvious.

"Uh, Dylan!" Trance interrupted, "You really shouldn't be sitting up yet, you might exhaust yourself!"

Dylan didn't even notice that Trance was still sitting there.

"You know Beka...before you stepped into the room, I felt like my head was exploding...but now, all of that's gone," he leaned in further, till he and Beka were only a few centimeters apart.

"Uh..." Beka blushed and looked to Trance for help.

Trance shrugged and winced, "Sorry Beka..."

Beka didn't have time to reply, Dylan's mouth were on hers. Beka felt like her entire body had gone numb underneath the warmth of his tender lips and at the same time, her eyes widened two times their natural size.

Trance turned ten shades of crimson at seeing this. The golden goddess turned around, only to see Harper staring at Dylan and

Beka with a shocked expression on his face.

"Let's go..." Harper said quietly, nearly dropping the plant he held in his hand.

"Agreed," Trance squeaked and followed him out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

"Whoa...that was...I mean..." Harper handed the plant over to Trance.

"Strange," Trance supplied the word for him.

"I mean...I guess I knew that it would come to this but...not so soon!" Harper replied, "Do you think Beka will be safe in

there with Dylan? I mean, what if---"

"Don't!" she held up her hand, "I don't even want to think about it!"

Suddenly Andromeda's alarm sequence went off.

"Oh great," Harper cried, "Of all the freaking bad times!"

"Andromeda? What's going on?"

"Seven approaching Nietzschean ships," said Andromeda.

Trance and Harper exchanged panicked looks.

"Dylan! Beka!" Harper yelled, twisting the door knob to the room, "It's locked!"

"What? I didn't lock it!"

"Maybe Dylan wanted some uninterrupted quality with Beka!"

"Yes...that does seem like his priority these days..."

"Then let's blast the door open!"

Suddenly, the Andromeda shook, sending Trance and Harper flying into an unexpected heap against a wall.

"No time! Let's get to Command!" Trance cried and ran off with Harper in tow.

-------

A/N: Well. That was pretty pathetic. This is probably the shortest and the worst update yet. Sorry about that guys. I need to stop adding so much Rommie into this...seeing as she's an important, but not so much a major part of the plot. I can't help myself with all the Rommie-angst I keep putting in! She's one of my favourite characters (except for Mr. Harper of course!) and I absolutely hate how Dylan has kissed nearly every freaking woman on the show except Rommie!

Which in code, means that there's more jealous-Rommie moments to come. Oh and Rhade too. Can't for get Rhade. We all love Rhade!

I'm going to stop now, before I say something even more stupid...


	6. Catastrophe!

A/N: I hope this is better than the last chapter.

**Thank you very, very much to everyone who has reviewed so far!**

* * *

**Chapter Six: Catastrophe!**

When Trance and Harper finally reached command, they found Rommie standing at the controls, maneuvering the Andromeda so that it dodged all of the Nietzschean fire.

"It's about time," snapped Rommie.

"We're sorry Rommie," Trance apologized genuinely and she and Harper both took their places at two different consoles.

"Where's Dylan?" asked Rommie, momentarily losing her concentration.

One moment was all it took. Trance and Harper ducked as sparks erupted from every corner as the entire ship shook with the impact of another Nietzschean missile.

"Extend battle blades Andromeda!" Trance ordered.

"Why didn't you think of..." Harper started to interrogate Rommie when the android shot him an icy glare which cut him off instantly, "N-never mind..."

"Fire defense missiles!" yelled Trance, trying to maintain her balance.

"Firing defense missiles," Rommie responded.

The petty Nietzschean ships were no match in the end for Andromeda's fire power (something that Harper would easily vouch for any day).

"Allright!" Harper cheered, "Take that you damn Nietzscheans..."

"Wow...we did it..." said Trance, smiling.

"Yeah! Way to go Trancie! Who needs Beka or Rhade or Dylan! You totally kicked ass out there...in here...whatever!"

Rommie rolled her eyes, "We were lucky."

"What?" Harper and Trance said simultaneously.

"They starting powering up that weapon again when I launched the battle blades," stated Rommie flatly, "One less second and you'd both be brain dead...again."

"We should talk to Dylan about this..." said Trance worriedly.

"Where is he anyways?" asked Rommie again.

"For someone with a brain the size of a planet, you can have more of a one-track mind than me sometimes Rommie..." Harper said, slightly coldly.

"He's with Beka," Trance stated quickly and then wondered if by saying that she made things better or worse.

Probably both.

"Figures," Rommie growled and left Command in a huff.

And no later than thirty minutes after she left, Rhade walked in. Harper looked up from where he was repairing some wiring and scowled at the Nietzschean.

"You're about half an hour late," said Harper.

"Appreciate the warm welcome," Rhade shot back.

"No problem. Would you like me to roll out the red carpet for you too?"

Rhade didn't reply, instead he walked over to wear Trance was monitoring Andromeda's systems status.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Nietzscheans attacked. It would have been nice for you to have been up here when they did too," Trance answered in a harsher tone than she had intended.

"I didn't..." Rhade began and then stopped himself for reasons unknown to anyone, "Where's Beka?"

Trance looked at Harper, who gave her one of his trademark 'whatever' looks and said:

"With Dylan, down on Med Deck, trading saliva."

The look that came upon Rhade's face was a mix of anger, jealousy and an extreme need to kick someone's ass. Particularly Dylan. Nonetheless, Rhade did not reply, instead he got to work helping Harper and Trance with the repairs to the Andromeda. Both Harper and Trance lost themselves in what they were doing until the rest of the situation just seemed to fade away. No one spoke a word for hours

* * *

"Dylan we should—" Beka was cut off again by the Captain's lips being pressed to hers once again, "Dylan the crew...they might be...we can't—"

Dylan continued to kiss her, one hand around her waist, the other tangled in her hair. He couldn't remember ever feeling so relaxed in his life! Not even when he was with Sara. Every moment he spent with Beka, he could feel his body ease into a completely mellowed state. Beka however, was struggling to breathe and was less than pleased with her current state. Somehow, she had ended up lying flat on her back with Dylan on top of her. Despite her efforts to break free, and there had been _many_, Dylan was heavier than she was and therefore, he'd been quite successful in pinning her down for God knows how long. She'd promised herself that she wouldn't knock Dylan out again, so no matter how she squirmed, the only thing she achieved were teasing giggles from Dylan.

Dylan. Giggling. Beka's ears had nearly bled.

Dylan trailed his hands up her arms, his fingers gently brushing over Beka's skin, making her shudder for reasons she did not want to think about. She had begged and pleaded and had even _whined _about how the Andromeda was probably under attack and how Harper, Trance, Rhade and Rommie were probably very angry at them right now for making out with each other while they should have been blasting Nietzscheans into space. And every time Dylan's mumbled reply against her skin was something like "They can handle it" or "I'm sure they'll managed" and occasionally, "You smell nice".

_Damn_, Beka had to keep herself from sighing when Dylan's tongue brushed against her lips for the twenty-sixth time before she finally gave him access to her mouth, _He's a good kisser_.

He reluctantly broke the kiss so they could both take a few quick breaths and then his lips descended upon hers again. Suddenly, another thought crossed Beka's mind, one which frightened her beyond belief.

_Somebody better hurry up and get this guy off me_, Beka thought, _Or I might start too_...

Beka closed her eyes.

* * *

"This is really getting out of hand," Andromeda's holographic form appeared and said to Trance and Harper.

"Ya think so?" Harper said haughtily as he tinkered with a small mechanical device.

"Harper. Trance. We cannot have half the crew all distracted by personal issues. If the Nietzscheans should choose to attack again with their weapon, the results could be disastrous," said Andromeda.

"We hadn't noticed," Harper grumbled, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"I agree," Trance said firmly, ignoring Harper, "Though part of me still can't believe that all of this is happening."

"Well it is, and my Captain is currently locked in an infirmary with Beka Valentine doing _something _that A.I.s aren't even programmed to speak of!" Andromeda said, raising her voice a little.

"Oh my God!" Trance cried, "We forgot about Beka!"

Harper dropped what he was doing an proclaimed, "To Med Deck and beyond!"

"Excuse me?" Andromeda raised her eyebrows.

"Never mind! Let's go!" Trance replied, dragging Harper out with her.

* * *

"Thanks for that..." said Beka, panting.

"No problem...wait, that's not true...big problem..." Harper replied, running a hand through his messy hair.

"That's right. _Very _big problem," Trance chimed in.

Harper had blown the door off the infirmary with a small explosive and it had taken them twenty minutes to dislodge Dylan's grip off of Beka's body. Then they'd hauled Beka out of the room and since there was no door anymore, Trance had needed to resort to desperate measures to keep Dylan from suffocating Beka again.

And so now the poor Captain lay unconscious on the floor. Again.

"How long were you in there for?" asked Harper, eyeing Beka's disheveled hair, flushed skin and slightly torn clothing.

"I don't know! It's all a vague blur! It could have been minutes...or hours...or days...or centuries! What year is it?" Beka cried frantically.

Trance took the shaken blonde by her shoulders, "Beka, calm down."

"C-calm down...calming...calming down..." Beka stammered.

"This really isn't like her," Harper observed, "It's like she's been high on flash again, either that or...Dylan must be one hell of a kisser to get the Boss all jumpy like this..."

"That isn't the point!" Trance snapped at him while still trying to soothe Beka, "This whole thing is a giant catastrophe!"

"Tell me about it. You and I—both of us being the innocent crew members—can't protect Beka from being snogged to death, have Dylan Hunt under lock and key in an unconscious state, keep Rhade from murdering Dylan or Rommie from slitting Beka's throat _and _fight the God damn Nietzscheans and their unfair weapons all at the same time!" yelled Harper, once again managing to sum up the obvious into one big statement.

"I'll get Beka up to her quarters..." said Trance.

Harper pouted. Trance hadn't even commented on his super-long statement!

"And I'll go see what Rhade's up to," he grumbled.

"Right," Trance replied, "Oh and Harper?"

"Yes?"

"Try not to speak Dylan's name to Rhade. We really do need an engineer on this ship, and you won't be much help if your dead."

Harper gulped.

* * *

A/N: Updates are going to be a bit slower 'kay? I have school now...so I might end up uploading one chapter per weekend. Sorry. Lots of Rhade-ness (because I've been excluding him so much) in the next chapter! Promise! 


	7. Cured?

A/N: Another update after a long time. Season five premiered tonight (yay!) and I got all inspired (meaning that there were many hot Rhade scenes).

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Cured?**

Trance had been right. Rhade had been angry. _Very _angry.

Usually Harper made it a priority in his life to avoid very angry Nietzscheans at all costs however he didn't think that Rhade would have actually hurt him.

He thought wrong.

"Ow..._Traaaaaancie_..."

"Oh Harper," Trance said, swatting his hand away from his own severed face, "Stop groaning like that, you sound like your—"

She cut herself off when she saw Harper's perverted little grin.

"Even in this state! You're still thinking about only one thing!" Trance scolded, "Besides, I was _going _to say that you sound like your going to die any moment when you groan like that."

Harper's eyes widened in fright, "I'm not really going to die am I Trancie? I'm too young and intelligent and hot to die! And what about my life's mission, huh? I still have to get Rommie to agree to—"

"Harper you are not going to die...and Rommie would never do _that _with you anyways," Trance said absentmindedly.

"That's encouraging..." Harper grumbled and then yelped in pain when Trance touched his nose.

Trance frowned, "I think it's broken," she said.

"Great," said Harper, trying not to cry, "Damn Nietzschean..."

Trance gave him a truly sympathetic look and then started dabbing his nose gently with some tissue paper.

"He didn't have to punch me so hard," Harper pouted.

"What did you say to him?" asked Trance, getting some bandages out from a cupboard.

"What do you mean 'what did I say to him'?" he replied defensively, "I just went to see if he was alright and then he jammed his knuckles into my face!"

"Harper," Trance sat next to him again, "You and I both know that Telemachus would not simply punch you for no reason."

"That's debatable."

"What did you say to him?"

Harper simply mumbled something to himself and crossed his arms against his chest, "Why are you interrogating me? Can't you see I'm in pain?"

"That's very obvious Harper, however you do know that if you scrunch up your face like that you're only going to further dislocate the bones in your nose," she informed him.

"Mrmmph..." Harper half-groaned, half-whined.

Trance sighed and wiped away a small stream of blood that was trickling down his face.

"Where's Telemachus gone now?" she asked some time later after she finished bandaging his nose.

"Like Hell if I know...he's probably off sulking in the Maru," Harper growled, but it didn't come out right, and Trance had to hide a smile, "I suppose you find my pain amusing."

"Oh not at all Harper...it's just..." she giggled slightly.

He looked like a child who'd just had his tonsils out and was whining that his leg was broken as well.

"I'll go see if I can find him," Trance added and kissed him on the cheek, "Try to get some rest."

"Yeah..." Harper looked even more cross, "And when you do find him, tell that self-absorbed moron that I might accidentally activate Andromeda's internal defense system all over his genetically enhanced, Nietzschean ass!"

Trance laughed quietly.

Because on days like these, you had to.

* * *

Harper had been right, it had taken Trance less than ten minutes to find Telemachus Rhade sitting in Beka's piloting chair in the Eureka Maru.

"Hi," said the golden goddess, sitting down next to him.

Rhade nodded in greeting without even looking at her.

"You know..." Trance smiled to herself, "Harper can be a bit of a pain when he's...in pain."

"I think he's just a pain in general."

Trance's smile faded a bit and she peered closely at Rhade. His rough features were softened in the gentle light and made him look a bit more appealing. Trance looked away again, and sat there for a long time in a lingering silence.

She thought about the events of the past few days and suddenly a desperate question popped into her head.

"Do you like Beka?" she blurted out, her eyes bugging wide.

That woke him up.

"Excuse me?" Rhade answered as though he could not believe her ears.

"Uh..." Trance stared up at him, unsure of what do say.

Rhade took his eyes from hers and stared out into space again with a blank expression on his face. Trance stared down at the Maru's flooring, her thoughts wandering off to Beka, Dylan, Rommie and Harper.

"Maybe."

Trance's eyes darted upwards to see Rhade still looking into a glass window. Had he actually answered? Was that his voice she'd just heard? Trance wasn't sure, but she knew that if he had replied to her question, then it was a start.

"Did you say something Telemachus?" Trance asked in the quietest voice possible.

"I said _maybe_."

He stood up suddenly and left Trance to herself, wondering if he'd growled or sighed.

Trance shook her head.

Oh yes indeed. Telemachus Rhade was in love with Beka Valentine.

* * *

Dylan Hunt awoke on Med Deck. Alert, confused and a little shocked. He pulled himself out of bed groggily and then sat down again when everything began to spin around him.

"Andromeda?" he called out.

"Yes Captain?"

Dylan jumped a little when Rommie bounded into the room.

"Uh..." Dylan stared at the excited avatar strangely, "Rommie?"

"Yes?" she smiled, a little too brightly than he expected—or was prepared for.

"Um..."

"Boss! You're awake!" Harper said, appearing behind Rommie.

"Harper what happened to your nose?" was the only thing Dylan found suitable to ask.

"Oh, Rhade punched me," Harper pouted, remembering the incident.

"Are you okay Dylan?" Rommie tilted her head.

"Did you hear what I just said? Rhade broke my nose!" Harper exclaimed to Rommie, who seemingly ignored him.

"Uh..." the Captain's voice was lost to him again.

"What's going on...?" Beka's voice sounded.

Rommie groaned inwardly when she heard Beka's voice.

"Hi Beka."

Harper, Rommie and Beka stared at Dylan in utter disbelief.

"That's it?" asked Harper, "Just, 'Hi Beka'?"

"Am I missing something?" Dylan asked, completely bewildered.

No one answered him, instead, Beka stepped past Rommie and Harper and went near Dylan.

"Can you see me?" she asked slowly, spacing her words.

"Um...yes," Dylan quirked an eyebrow.

"Are you sure?" Harper pried.

"Um...yes."

"Positive?" asked Rommie, even she was wondering why he had not pounced on Beka minutes ago, though she couldn't say that she was upset about that.

"Allright, what's wrong with all of you?" Dylan raised his voice out of frustration.

The silence that encased the room seemed to last for an eternity.

"What's wrong with _us_?" Harper cried finally, "For the past two days you have been all mooney-eyed over Beka! You practically proposed to her in Command in front of all of us, you made out with her for hours in this very infirmary, you've sent Rhade into a mad-protective state and Rommie...well I'm not brave enough to talk about that..."

Another silence. Dylan turned to Beka and gaped at her, he was unable to take it all in at once.

"Y-you don't remember?" Beka looked down and Dylan could have sworn she blushed.

"No..." Dylan replied awkwardly.

"Oh...okay..." Beka stood up and walked out of the room stiffly.

Harper began to wonder if Dylan's feelings in his crazed state were really as unrequited as he thought.

He hoped they had been, otherwise things were about to get complicated. Again.

* * *

Beka walked up and down the Andromeda's corridors with posture that could have impressed theTriumvirate, it was like she had a long metal rod stuck up her back.

"Hi Beka," came a slightly roguish voice.

And the rod melted away slightly.

"Rhade," she nodded at him.

He noticed her distant look, his Nietzschean senses picked up her discomfort and slight misery.

"Are you all right Beka?" he asked, and held back from reaching out for her for fear that she'd push him away.

"Yeah...I'm..." she heaved a sigh, "Dylan's back to normal."

"Back to normal? You mean...does he..."

"No," Beka shook her head, her blonde hair falling into her face, "He doesn't remember anything."

At seeing her sadness, Rhade felt compelled to slay Dylan once more. Either that, or he'd sweep Beka off her feet.

And after much thought, he decided that neither one would turn out for the best.

* * *

A/N: Hmm...I don't like this one either. Certain parts were okay, I liked the first bit, with Trance and Harper, but that's about it. To be honest...I'm really not sure what to write next. So it seems Dylan has come out of his obsessive, Beka-crazed state. Should I put him back into it? Or should I just go straight to the aftermath? You guys decide. Oh and by the way...I'm debating on whether I not I should add in more pairings. This will be a Rhade/Beka story in the end, as promised at the beginning of the fic, sorry if you wanted it to turn out as Dylan/Beka. So...tell me, Dylan/Rommie or Harper/Trance as a secondary pairing. I really don't want have to do both...it would seem a bit _Too_ much to have everyone paired up, don't you think? I'm leaning towards Dylan/Rommie, but only because I like the Harper/Trance friendship idea. I don't know. Please feel free to suggest things, I really want to please people with this. I could always make Dylan go insane again...if I did, the story might be longer though.

Help me. Other wise I'll...well, screw this whole thing up royally. Like I did with Rhade's most wonderful character personality. Yes I know, I really think I've completely destroyed Rhade...and maybe even Rommie a little. I apologize. All right, before you go and mourn the loss of Rhade in all his sexy, Nietzschean glory (because I've killed him with this chapter). Please review. Even if it's just a few words.

Meep.


	8. What Happened Next

A/N: Sorry this took so long.

* * *

**Chapter Eight: What Happened Next**

"So...what you're saying is that...Beka and I...we..." Dylan's voice trailed off.

Harper and Trance nodded, but neither crewmember was really paying attention.

"I can't believe it," Dylan's eyes widened and he began to pace, "I can't even remember any of it."

Harper and Trance continued to nod.

"Um...Trance is there a possibility that when Beka and I were in the infirmary together...we...y'know, did she and I...get _too _close," Dylan cleared his throat and peered closely at them, "Hey! Are you two even listening to me!"

"What?" Trance blinked and suddenly came to her senses, "Oh um...no! No, no, no...you didn't go _that_ far."

"Good to know..." Dylan muttered.

"Sorry Boss," Harper sighed, coming back to reality, "It's just with everything going on, it's hard to focus on one thing."

Dylan didn't reply for a few minutes, taking some time to register the days past events.

"How's the Andromeda doing?" he asked, falling back into his responsible state.

"Better than Beka is," Harper grumbled.

"Or Rhade," Trance chimed in.

"Can't forget Rommie," added Harper.

"Aren't you two quite the optimists," Dylan growled in a nearly Nietzschean way.

Harper shivered, "_Please_ don't do that again. It reminds me of---"

Harper suddenly felt a sinking feeling crawl over him.

"Rhade!" he squeaked.

Indeed. Harper looked up and saw the Nietzschean towering over him with undecipherable emotions running through his deep brown eyes.

"Harper," Rhade's voice was surprisingly cool.

Harper clamped both his hands over his nose and ran off screaming, "I didn't do it!"

Rhade and Dylan looked towards Trance.

"Oh, um, right...I'll go...go...make sure Harper doesn't do something stupid," Trance stammered and escaped their gazes.

As Trance hurried off, Rhade and Dylan both slowly brought their eyes to each other. Rhade's expression held a fine mixture of angst and envy while Dylan just looked confused.

"Well...I'm going to go and...Um..." Dylan began yet another sentence which he was unable to complete.

"Yes?" Rhade surprisingly urged him on.

Dylan's eyes drifted behind Rhade to where Rommie had been standing quietly all along, her face a mystery.

"I'm going to go crawl under a rock..." Dylan said in a low tone, and walked away.

"Yes, I think that would be a good idea Captain," Rhade glared although Dylan was too far to hear him.

After a few moments of silence, Rhade turned to face Rommie, whose eyes were glazed over in obvious longing.

"He's probably headed to Command," said Rhade.

"Hm...?" Rommie's brain fell from her daydreams, "Oh, right. Whatever."

Rhade quirked an eyebrow at that very un-Rommie-like statement, "Whatever?"

"It works for Harper," Rommie grumbled and stormed past Rhade.

* * *

Beka Valentine stood on the Observation Deck staring out into the universe and at the same time trying to figure out why her heart had dropped to the floor hours ago.

Was it Dylan? Perhaps. He was, after all, brave, kind and loyal...and for a little while, he'd also been obsessed with her. Beka clamped her eyes shut in frustration.

_No, no, no! Valentine are you insane? Please no…not again…not another one_, Beka mused to herself, remembering all her past loves...most of whom had ended up betraying her and leaving her totally heartbroken.

Dylan wouldn't do that to her right? Then again, Beka wasn't entirely sure that Dylan had actually had feelings for her in the first place. It seemed as though nothing was entirely sure right now. Including her feelings for Dylan. Did she even have feelings for Dylan? Dear Lord, who knew?

And then there was Rhade.

Oh Rhade, Rhade, Rhade.

_Damn Nietzschean_, thought Beka, _that…that…argh!_"

It struck her that she hadn't spoken to him in awhile and she wondered what his take on the whole situation was. Probably the Nietzschean take. That all of the pressures of being Dylan Hunt had finally driven the good Captain insane. It wasn't all too hard to tell what the Nietzschean train of thought revolved around. Power, honour, reproduction. It was simple. Beka understood.

Or at least she thought she did. Then along came Tyr Anasazi, and everything had changed. And here she was again, comparing Tyr to Rhade. Beka frowned, she knew it was unfair to Rhade, to judge him according to what Tyr had done, but sometimes she couldn't help it. Trance had informed her many a time that one man's sins could not taint an entire race.

Sometimes, Beka felt differently.

* * *

"HAAAAAARPER..."

Harper dropped his screwdriver in shock.

"Trance? What the Hell was that?" the Engineer stood up and stared at the beautiful golden goddess.

"I just wanted to see what sort of effect that dragging out the first syllable in one's name has on you," Trance shrugged, "_Haaaaarper_!"

"Trance, please don't do that again," Harper winced.

"Why not?" Trance pouted a little, "You do it a lot."

"Yeah, but it doesn't sound right when you say it."

Trance grinned, "_HAAAAARP_---mrrrrf!"

Harper had clamped one hand down over her mouth.

"Harper? Trance?" Dylan eyed the two of them with a slight smirk on his face as he walked into Command with Rommie following closely behind.

Trance yanked Harper's hand away from her mouth and smiled at Dylan.

"Yes Captain?" asked Trance.

"How are the repairs going?" asked Dylan, peering at the wires, tools and various metal objects that were scattered all over the floor.

"Well, I managed to fix the slipstream drive, but only partially. Weaponry wiring is still a little fuzzy, but we can control it. Communications are still fried though...and there's a whole bunch of other stuff to be fixed," Harper admitted sadly.

"So we're still stuck?"

Trance nodded, "How are you feeling Dylan?"

"Fine...well sort of...still a little light headed," replied Dylan.

"Makes sense," Harper shrugged getting back to work, "You got knocked out so many---"

Trance whacked the back of his head gently.

"What?" Dylan's eyebrows knit themselves into a troubled frown, "Who knocked me out."

"Never mind," Trance hurried to his side, "You should rest...there could always be a relapse."

"But what of?" Dylan inquired, "You wouldn't happen to know...and I demand that someone explain to me what the Hell went on after the Nietzscheans attacked us!"

"Um..." Trance's eyes lit up with an idea, "Rommie, why don't you tell Dylan what happened."

Rommie blinked.

"You know...back in Dylan's quarters," Trance coughed, ever so gently and motioned towards the door.

"Sounds good," Dylan said, "I don't like being uninformed."

Trance shot Rommie a little smile. The android looked uneasy.

"You'll be fine," Trance whispered to Rommie as she turned towards the door to follow Dylan out of Command.

"I beg to differ," Rommie squeaked.

When they were gone, Trance turned to Harper who had an amused expression on his face.

"Did she actually squeak?" he asked.

"What's wrong with that?" Trance grinned, "You do it all the time."

* * *

A/N: Next chapter will be poster A.S.A.P. There will probably be ten chapters to this fic...eh...yeah, that's it for me.

Thank you to all who reviewed.


	9. Outburst

A/N: Secondary pairing has been decided. Dylan/Rommie…though I'm not too keen on a happy ending for these too. It just seems so impossible, we'll see I guess. Sorry, no Trance/Harper, they're just too good of friends for me to pair them up romantically! It didn't seem right! Besides…Harper has enough to worry about already.

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Outburst**

Rommie's artificial brown eyes traced over Dylan's figure over and over, registering his vital signs and memorizing the sound of his heartbeat.

"Rommie, you're not helping," said Dylan gently, you're supposed to be filling me in on what happened.

"I know," Rommie straightened her posture, "But..."

She took a moment to glance around at her surroundings. Here she was again. With him, in his quarters, unable to speak without stammering over her words. She was fighting a war inside herself, debating over telling him how things had really happened, or stretching the truth a little to suit her liking.

"Rommie," Dylan was growing impatient with her silence, "I order you to—"

"Okay, so it was a normal day and Beka and I were in the Mess Hall making fun of Harper and then the Nietzscheans attacked and we were all in Command trying to fight them and then they used their secret weapon on us which made you all go brain dead—except me of course—and so I stood there for hours not knowing what to do and then you woke up and you were helping me up but then you dropped me and told Beka she was gorgeous and then you fainted and then we took you Med Deck and then when you woke up again you called Beka enchantingly beautiful and then you made out with her for hours and then Trance knocked you out and then you woke up again and now Rhade's in love with Beka and Beka's in love with you and you're in love with Bekaand of course I'm jealous of Beka and Trance is trying to figure out what's wrong with everyone and somehow, someway, THIS IS ALL HARPER'S FAULT!" Rommie screamed out one long paragraph, which was quite easy seeing as she was an android and didn't need to breathe.

Dylan stared, with wide, wide eyes. Had Rommie actually said that? He examined the avatar's face closely. Her skin was flushed and her hair was falling into her eyes which seemed to stare out into a blank nothingness.

"Rommie..." he said her name slowly and brought his hands to her shoulders.

Rommie's eyes snapped up to look into his and suddenly, she felt her entire body go numb.

"D-Dylan, I'm sorry...I didn't m-mean to..." she stammered, unable to accept that she'd just yelled out all her frustration into his face.

"Rommie," Dylan repeated and she fell silent, "One, I'm not sure I'm in love with Beka, two, please don't ever do that again, three, I promise you, Harper will pay for this."

"You don't love Beka?" Rommie blurted out.

"Uh..." Dylan was taken slightly aback, "Well Rommie...I..."

"Am I interrupting something?" asked Beka, appearing beside them, neither Captain nor android had noticed her come in.

"Uh..."

"Not at all," Rommie said, quickly gathering her wits, "Go ahead Beka, he's all yours."

Dylan didn't like the way she said that, but he didn't have time to say anything about it, Rommie was gone before he could open his mouth.

"We..." Beka rocked back and forth on her heels, "We need to talk."

"I think so..." Dylan shrugged.

"So...you and I...we..." Beka's voice trailed off, she hadn't thought that this would have been so hard.

"Yeah..." he looked at her and tried to wrap his mind around the current situation.

"Dylan, I'm confused," Beka stated flatly.

"That makes two of us."

"Do you know...do you know why...why..."

"Not a clue."

Great. Back to square one. They stood there in an uncomfortable silence for what seemed like days, and it might have been, neither Dylan nor Beka really knew for sure. Suddenly, something else struck Dylan. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, folded envelope.

"What's that?" asked Beka, walking towards him and looking over his shoulder.

"I think Trance dropped it before the Nietzscheans attacked," said Dylan whilst tearing open the envelope.

As his eyes scanned the letter, he felt his stomach drop in shock. He quickly crumpled up the letter and shoved it back into his pocket.

"What was it?" asked Beka, frowning at his actions.

"Nothing," Dylan replied and began to walk away briskly.

"Dylan!" Beka called and followed him, "What did the letter say?"

"Just forget it..."

"Dylan...what did it say?" she stepped in front of him, blocking his path, "I saw my name on the paper and I demand that you tell me what it was!"

"You don't want to know," Dylan said.

"Yes I do!" Beka pounced on him, reaching for his pocket.

"Beka!" Dylan lost his balance and fell backwards.

And of course, she fell on top of him. However, while Dylan was quite well aware of the awkwardness of the situation, Beka barely noticed.

"Where is it..." she grumbled in frustration as she fumbled around in his pocket, "Ah! Found it!"

She settled herself on his chest and unfolded the crumpled paperball.

"Um...Beka?" Dylan said in a meek voice.

"Shh!" Beka clamped a hand down over his mouth.

Dylan lay his head down against the cool floor when he realized that he wasn't going anywhere until Beka read the damn letter. And wasn't this a sight to be seen, a Captain lying completely helpless underneath his female first officer who seemed quite comfortable with her position up on his chest.

Beka's eyes were as wide as saucers by the time she finished reading the letter. She sat up and her eyes skimmed over the page over and over.

"I..." she was speechless.

She looked down and noticed that Dylan was staring up at her with a pleading look in his eyes. With a little gasp of surprise, she withdrew her hand from his lips and rolled off him clumsily.

"Thank you," Dylan said, sitting up, "Now do you see why I didn't want you to read it?"

"I...I...I didn't write this!" Beka exclaimed, her eyes meeting Dylan's.

"Yeah...I figured that much," Dylan replied, flexing his shoulder, "I'd know that messy writing anywhere."

Slowly, realization sank into Beka's mind.

"HARPER!"

* * *

"Trancie! You gotta help me!She's gonna come and...and...and...ah!" Harper wrapped his arms around Trance's waist from behind her.

"Harper," Trance placed her hands awkwardly over his and tried to pry them off herself.

"You!" yelled Beka as she stomped into Command, rage burning in her eyes.

"SHE'S GONNA EAT ME!" Harper screamed so loudly that Trance had to cover her ears.

Beka was across the room in a single bound and looked quite ready to tear Harper's skin off his body.

"Now Beka, try to calm down," Trance tried to reach out to the blonde woman but was held back as a quivering Harper lowered his grip to around her legs.

"Calm down! CALM DOWN! Do you have any idea what that smart ass little engineer has done?" Beka exclaimed, her body trembling with anger.

"Okay Beka...tell me what Harper did," Trance sighed while trying to peel Harper's fingers from her thighs.

"That little devil wrote a love letter from me to...to...to someone!" Beka yelled.

"And this has made you upset because..." Trance inquired.

Beka froze. Why was she so angry again?

"Um..." Beka's voice trailed off.

Trance smiled triumphantly and she looked down at Harper, "You can let go now Harper, I do believe that Beka is not planning to eat you any longer."

"O-okay...if y-you say so T-Tran...cie..." Harper stammered and slinked off to hide behind a console.

Beka was still at a loss for words, her mind was blank. She couldn't remember why she was angry at Harper. None of this made any sense.

"Perhaps something else is bothering you that has triggered this emotional outbreak?" Trance suggested softly, "Or perhaps, _someone_ else?"

"You know Trance, you could be right...well, you usually are, but I'm really unsure of everything right now, and I need to sit down before...before..."

"Beka?" Trance's eyes widened.

Beka would have fallen over, if a very strong, muscular pair of arms had not suddenly swept her off her feet.

Apparently, Telemachus Rhade had decided to take his chances with the second option.

* * *

A/N: Okay…probably some major Beka/Rhade in the next chapter…which might possibly be the last. 


	10. Mixed Emotions

A:N: This chapter's a bit more serious than the other ones. More character interaction, less humor. Sorry (?).

* * *

**Chapter Ten: Mixed Emotions**

Beka awoke to find two, observant, dark brown eyes staring down at her intently.

"Hi Rhade," she mumbled, sitting up a little.

He did reply, instead, he kept his gaze steady upon her. Beka looked at her hands and tried to ignore his lingering eyes unsuccessfully. The way he was scrutinizing her made her feel like a bug under a microscope. Beka Valentine was no bug.

"Would you quit that?" she asked, a bit more coldly than she had intending.

Rhade kept staring at her, but Beka note that his expression had changed from a somewhat dazed one, to a regular, Rhade, ready-and-alert expression. Beka found it strangely comforting.

"Mind explaining what you're doing here...and what I'm doing here?" asked Beka casually.

Rhade leaned back, pulling himself away from her and replied, "You fainted in Command, so I brought you here. Trance just left for a minute, she asked me to watch you."

"She asked you to watch me, not bore your eyes through my skin," Beka snapped, simply for the sake of all that had happened over the past few days.

"I take it, you're angry."

"Did your Nietzschean senses tell you that too?"

"My Nietzschean senses tell me everything. I'm superior, just ask Harper," Rhade gave her a rare smile that hinted that he was joking.

Beka's lips quirked a little, as if she was going to return his smile, however she kept a straight face.

"Since when did my life start getting so screwed up?" Beka asked, staring into the crisp white sheets that covered her waist and legs.

"Beka, sorry to break it to you but—"

"Yeah, yeah I know, my life's always been so screwed up," Beka nearly smirked at her interruption, "It's a shame though...I always did pride myself on not falling in love with Dylan Hunt for the five years I spent on this warship."

"I suppose that's in the past now then?" asked Rhade quickly, his gaze razor sharp.

"I...I'm not sure," Beka replied, pursing her lips in thought, "...He's a good kisser though, I'll tell you that much...I suppose though, he's had a lot of—"

"Practice," Rhade finished for her with a wry smirk on his face inspite of himself.

This time, Beka did smile.

* * *

Harper and Trance had traveled down to Machine Shop 17 about an hour ago. The engineer was busy coaxing his hair into sharper-looking spikes while Trance simply rocked on the balls of her feet, unable to find anything else to do with herself. A rare and uncomfortable silence hung between the two of them, which was so unusual that it scared them more than they cared to show. Harper, despite his regular Harper-like exterior had Beka-centric concerns running through his head. Not only was he worried that she would rip him to shreds if she ever got bored again, but also because he and Trance had left Beka alone in a room with Rhade. Harper knew prejudice was wrong, he also knew that Beka was perfectly able to defend herself...except maybe against a super-crazy, freakishly over-infatuated Dylan Hunt. Still, he had been very hesitant to agree to Rhade's offer to watch over Beka. Why had he agreed to that again? He wasn't quite sure. Harper felt like slapping himself.

Did the engineer actually believe that after the recent events directly concerning Beka's state of mind and—more specifically—her love life, the blonde pilot would actually want to get involved in a relationship? With a headstrong, sell-absorbed Nietzschean no doubt. Harper winced when he realized what a hypocrite he was being. _He_ was the one who'd wanted Beka and Rhade to admit their feelings for each other in the first place, and now he was having second thoughts, particularly about Rhade and how much the Nietzschean could really be trusted. Harper thought on the subject a bit longer and then began to ponder upon _why_ he really wanted Beka and Rhade together.

He glanced over at Trance, who was stacking microchips one on top of the other, then he looked down at his hands. Harper had been worried about Beka. Ever since...well, ever since forever, he had been worried about her. But he'd gone into his subtly-over-protective-hyper-caring-Harper mode right after Tyr left.

Harper's gentle features immediately etched themselves into a concentrated glower at the thought of the long-since-dead Kodiak. Damn that Tyr. Even in death, he still managed to find his way back to torment them all. Perhaps Beka more than anyone. Sure, he'd been Dylan's friend, _trusted _friend and that had meant a lot to the Captain...but Beka was the only one who'd really had an intimate connection with him. Like the one Dylan had once had with Sarah, and in a few ways, probably still did.

Harper's glare subsided a bit, and he went back to work playing with some piece of machinery and the world melted all around him.

Trance pouted a bit when her stack of microchips fell over, making a gentle clattering noise. To her surprise, Harper neither noticed, nor did he react. Trance sighed and began to clean up the mess. Once the chips were piled neatly into a little box, Trance turned to Harper.

"I think I'll go check on Dylan now," she said.

Harper's only reply was a simple nod of the head, and he did so without even looking at her.

Trance left the Machine Shop and began to walk steadily down the familiar hallways of the Andromeda. While she walked, she thought on the past events of the days.

Oh how on Earth had things turned so catastrophic?

It wasn't supposed to be this way...

"Hello Dylan," she said, stepping into Command and staring at the Captain, who had his eyes fixed onto a console.

"Hi," he had to look up at her just to recognize her voice, "Trance. How's Beka doing?"

"She's fine," Trance went to stand beside him, "She's awake now. Rhade's with her."

"I see," Dylan replied, turning back to the console, "Is there something you wanted to speak to me about."

"Umm...not really..." Trance shrugged, "How's Rommie?"

Dylan looked up at her again.

"Rommie?" he said quizzically.

"Yes you know...Rommie."

"Oh...right, Rommie, yeah...I think she's okay," Dylan said shaking the cobwebs from his brain simultaneously.

"You _think_?" Trance emphasized the second word.

"I spoke to her earlier...she was a bit..." Dylan held back a little, then he remembered who he was talking to, "...confused."

"Confused? I think you're confusing 'confused' with 'upset'" Trance said quietly.

"Maybe," Dylan's tone grew a little harsh, "But I'd say that I'm a bit more upset right now than she is. I was probably drugged into going insane over Beka, I did things to her that I can't even remember, Rommie's gone alien on me, Rhade looked about ready to kill me and you and Harper...I still don't know what my feelings are for—"

"Beka," Trance interrupted, "Do you love her, or not?"

"It's not that simple. You can't just decide to love someone...it takes a little..." Dylan's voice trailed off.

"Why not?" was her answer, "I love you. And Andromeda, and Harper and Beka and even Rhade. You're my Captain and they are my crewmates and I love you all. Just like I loved Rev and Tyr to a certain point as well."

"But that's friendship, that's a different sort of love..." Dylan argued solemnly.

"But what matters that it's love, right Dylan? I should think you of all people would know that the most," Trance said in a little more than a whisper, "You need to make up your mind."

And then she was gone.

Dylan stood alone in Command, slowly processing what she had told him. Trance always did seem to have a wider outlook on things.

And very rarely was she ever wrong.

* * *

"Feel better?" asked Harper.

It had been an entire week since Beka's fainting spell in Command, and after Trance's urging, Harper had finally worked up the courage to face Beka again.

"Harper, I was on my feet three hours after I fainted," said Beka with a touch of coldness as they sat in the Mess Hall together.

"I'm sorry I didn't come talk to you earlier…" he hesitated, "…And I'm sorry that I wrote the love letter…I…I didn't think it would cause so much trouble."

"Yeah, well, it did, and now I am completely filled to the brim with mixed emotions which is exactly what I've been trying to avoid for the past five years," said Beka grimly.

"Well…" Harper got up from his seat across the table and sat down next to her, "You might feel better if you talked about it."

He placed a cautious hand over hers and then when she turned and gazed at him, he shriveled down a bit, half-expecting her to whack him across the face.

His fears disappeared when Beka gave him that old, familiar grin.

"Oh Seamus," she ruffled his hair, "Never could stay mad at you for more than a few days."

"Does this mean you forgive me for writing that letter that drove Dylan crazy for you?" asked Harper with wide eyes like a child who'd just seen his Christmas presents earlier than he should have.

"Yes Seamus, I forgive you," Beka rolled her eyes, put her arm around him and pulled him closer in a friendly hug.

"SothendoyoualsoforgivemeforlettingthatnativeSeefranratlooseintheMaru?" Harper blurted out in one almost incoherent sentence.

Almost.

"You did _what_!"

Rhade and Trance watched Beka incase Harper in a headlock and rub her knuckles into his skull.

"You can tell they've been through a lot together," Rhade commented with a bit of amusement in his voice, "She's almost as good at that as I am."

"Right…they're like brother and sister," Trance giggled when she heard Harper's feminine squeals and yelps for mercy, "Which one is the sister though, is still questionable."

Rhade gave what Trance assumed to be Nietzschean-code for 'Ha'.

"She's doing much better," Trance noted aloud, changing the subject.

"I know," Rhade replied softly.

Trance looked at him, slightly shocked.

"What?"

"N-nothing I just…I just didn't really expect that you'd agree with me," Trance mumbled.

"I thought you knew how to expect everything," Rhade pried and leaned in a little closer to her.

"Not everything," Trance admitted and began to walk off, "If I did, Harper would be in the headlock."

Rhade stared at her disappearing back, the strange reddish-brown dreadlocks bounced behind her. Rhade shook his head in slightly amusement mixed with misunderstanding and turned to walk to where Harper was now rubbing his neck and head in pain and Beka stood with a triumphant smile on her face.

"That's what you get for meddling with matters of the heart, _don't do it again_," said Beka.

"R-right," Harper said.

The blonde little engineer looked up and saw Rhade staring down at him.

"She's right," Rhade shrugged, "_Never_ again."

"Uh huh," Harper gulped and stumbled past him, out of the mess hall.

Rhade and Beka now stood together in a familiar silence.

"You know, I thought you were actually going to hurt him," said Rhade, breaking it.

"Naw…not too bad at least, he means too much to me," Beka admitted, sitting down, she motioned for him to join her.

"I figured," replied Rhade.

"Did you now? How?" she inquired with a sly smile on her face.

"Oh it was quite simple. He's not dead yet, so…" Rhade's voice trailed off and he returned her smile with one of his own.

Oh that smile.

Beka peered closely at him. His head was turned to the side, showing off his fantastic profile to her.

Oh no.

Beka blinked and then brought her eyes downcast. Not so soon, not after everything that had just happened so recently with Dylan. Beka scolded herself for even thinking of Rhade in any way other than a platonic one. As much as Beka liked to tell herself that the whole Dylan-incident had not affected her at all, she knew deep down it had. It had shown her how close she'd grown to the do-good Captain and that scared her. Beka didn't like to grow too close to anyone. She'd learned first hand what it was like to lose someone she loved, it happened to her throughout her life constantly, it always seemed like gloom and misery was out to get her.

And then she met Harper. And then Trance and Rev Bem. And soon there was Dylan and Telemachus Rhade and Rommie and…Tyr.

Beka scowled at the thought of how she'd felt for him then, and the exact opposite of those emotions which she held for the majority of the Nietzschean race. It was at that exact moment that Rhade turned his head to look at her and she almost burst into tears.

She couldn't see Telemachus Rhade anymore. Instead, she saw Tyr Anasazi, that loathsome, lying, betraying bastard who'd nearly dragged her into hell along with himself. And soon, Tyr's harsh and uncaring face turned into Dylan's soft, compassionate one. A face that had once stared up with her with uncontrollable lust running through it's darkened blue eyes.

And that when it hit her.

That's all it really had been. Lust. That's it, just lust. That's all he had acted upon.

The problem was that Beka couldn't tell what emotion had caused her to respond to him slightly.

"Beka?" Telemachus' face was his own again, and he stared down at Beka in a way she had never seen him look at her before.

Beka was taken out of her reverie like a baby snatched from it's mother. She felt like she was going to cry.

"I-I have to go…" Beka stood up and began to walk away from him but just before she left she turned around and looked at him pleadingly, "There's something I need to figure out."

Rhade nodded and then she left, leaving behind her a trail of loneliness that may just about have started to fade.

* * *


	11. Confrontation

**Chapter Eleven: Confrontation**

"You really need to stop getting yourself into so much trouble," said Trance, placing some ice on Harper's neck.

"I'm just happy that Beka and I are finally on good terms with each other again," Harper said, wincing at the slight pain of his raw flesh.

"Yes, that is a good thing. I spoke to Dylan by the way..." her voice trailed off a little.

"Oh yeah? Did you ask about—?"

"Yes Harper, I did ask about Rommie."

"_And_?"

"And Dylan's too focused on his own feelings to notice Rommie," Trance sighed.

"Sounds a little selfish to me."

"Dylan's not a selfish person by nature, I think he just a bit more concerned about his emotions right now because they might have something to do with Beka. His emotions affect all of us," explained Trance.

"Yeah, like how when he's angry and wants to kick-ass he orders us into the middle of a Maggog swarm and starts firing like a madman..." Harper smiled widely at his own joke.

"Oh Harper..."

"Trance...stop that..."

"Stop what?"

"Petting me like that. It ruins my spikes."

"Oh," Trance retracted her hand but grinned, "I only do it when you're clueless."

"..._why_?" Harper looked at her like she was crazy.

"Because it takes my mind off how annoying your clueless-ness is," Trance gave him an enigmatic look, petted his hair once more and skipped away.

Harper stared at his hands as if he was waiting for them to turn green. He tried to understand his conversation with the mysterious Trance, as usual, he failed. The words she'd said kept running through his mind in a jumbled mess and the engineer found himself capable to speak only one coherent sentence.

"I'm not clueless..."

He pouted. And if Trance had been there, she probably would have petted his hair again.

* * *

Beka hummed to herself as she traced her way around Deck 9. Or was it Deck 10? Deck 11...12?

"13," Beka said aloud, finally coming to a decision.

"42, actually," Dylan said, casually walking towards her.

"13," Beka replied.

"42."

"13."

"Even if it was Deck 13—which it isn't—it would still be Deck 42."

"What?" Beka looked genuinely confused, "How does that work?"

"I'm the Captain. What I say goes," he shrugged.

"Except when you're crazy," Beka replied, somewhat nonchalantly.

"This is my ship, I rule here."

"Is that so?"

Dylan frowned as she began to walk away from him.

"Beka," he caught up with her, "Stop."

She kept on walking.

"Beka..." he walked beside her.

She could be stubborn when she wanted to. He continued to follow her like a lost puppy for reasons even he himself could not fathom. He was sure he was supposed to be saying something to her, something important, and yet his brain could not seem to compose a single word. So, unable to uncover a better option, the Captain trailed behind his pilot, hoping that she'd eventually stop walking and notice the pathetic look he had on his face.

She did. Eventually. Once they'd reached the Maru and Beka had sealed the door.

"Sit down," Beka ordered, finally acknowledging Dylan.

"Excuse me?"

"My ship. I rule here," she said simply.

"Do we have to do this?" Dylan sighed.

Beka thought for a moment before opening her mouth again:

"No, you can leave if you'd like to...but you won't."

"Why not?" his blue eyes narrowed like darts.

"Because you're Saint Hunt and the fact that I haven't confronted you properly about your _actions _earlier is driving you insane," she flipped her hair for effect.

"I've just lost whatever scrap of dignity I have left in every fiber of my being, walking around in your shadow for the past half hour. Do we _really _have to do this?" he sat down in her piloting seat and leant back.

"Then why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

Beka looked frustrated.

"Follow me around the Andromeda!"

"Because..."

"Because why?"

"Because..."

"_Dylan_."

"Because it's driving me insane that you haven't confronted me yet!" Dylan growled in defeat.

Somehow, Beka could not bring herself to smile triumphantly.

So instead, she smiled smugly.

Her smile soon faded though, seeing Dylan's obvious dismay. The skin of his face was folded over into a concerned frown. Concerned about what though, Beka couldn't tell. They remained silent for a long while, it could have been a minute, an hour or another three hundred years. It was all the same to both of them.

"We're terrible at this whole conversation thing, y'know?" Beka said finally, flopping down onto the floor.

"Yep," Dylan ran a hand through his hair.

"Y'know what else?"

"What?"

"We suck."

"Yeah."

"But you suck more, y'know why?"

Dylan sighed again, "Why Beka? Why do I suck more?"

"Because you made me remember I have feelings again."

"Is that such a terrible thing?"

"Look around you, our crew is falling apart."

"Rub it in, won't you."

For a moment, Beka actually felt like apologizing to him. He beat her to it.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"What?"

Dylan sat up and placed his hands on his knees.

"I'm sorry for...for...for whatever it was I did to you while I was...delirious," he said.

"Crazy works better," Beka smiled weakly, "Thanks though."

They looked at each other like they were staring out into the universe and its endless space.

"So...how crazy was I exactly?" Dylan inquired quietly.

"You made out with me for...well I can't remember exactly how long but I do remember that were in the middle of being attacked because we kept getting thrown around the room," Beka pondered upon the memory.

"Right..." Dylan looked down and felt his cheeks heat up.

"Oh c'mon Dylan," Beka punched his shoulder, "You've snogged plenty of people before, don't act like some schoolboy on Valentine's day."

She regretted saying that a second later, for the ironic pun it contained, he looked up at her, silently teasing her with his eyes.

"Don't look at me like that, Dylan," she crossed her arms, "You know what I meant."

"You're lucky you know, you have a whole day named after you," Dylan couldn't help but grin.

"That isn't funny, that joke is so old," Beka rolled her eyes and stood up again.

"Not funny to you maybe."

"How would you feel if your last name was...was...Christmas or something!" Beka grumbled.

"Captain Christmas?" Dylan frowned, "I'd feel suicidal..."

She tried not to smile. Her efforts were in vain.

"See? It is funny," he smirked smugly.

"We're _way_ off-topic you know. We're supposed to be talking about us," Beka shivered slightly at the word "us" and what it implied.

"Right...we should get back to that, shouldn't we?"

"If we ever want to be able to socialize normally again, yes."

Silence.

Now, Beka Valentine was determined to get the truth out of the good Captain if she had to drip water over his head till it bore through his skull. And since the entire "conversation" approach hadn't worked, she decided to try a different tactic.

Beka swung her legs around and planted herself firmly on his lap.

"Beka...what are you doing...?" Dylan's voice was wary.

"Confronting you."

She stole his lips.

* * *

A/N: --hides from all the Beka/Rhade fans-- I'm sorry. I just don't know how to add Rhade properly in here…so until then we'll have to see what Dylan's reaction is to Beka's…confrontation. I'm also really sorry about not updating for what seems like forever, but I promise this fic will be completed. School's just been getting on top of me and swallowing me whole. I keep saying that each chapter will be the last but I don't want anything to happen too abruptly. This was actually supposed to be a Beka/Rhade- centric fic but it turned out differently. 'Sides, there's so many Beka/Rhade fics going around, which is awesome, but I wanted interaction between all the characters. I'll post the next chapter as soon as I can crawl out from under my history notes.

Till then: (insert catchy farewell phrase)


	12. Uncivilized

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Twelve: Uncivilized **

Telemachus Rhade waltzed gracefully into Machine Shop 13 and took his usual, Nietzschean stance.

"Harper," he called clearly.

The engineer slid out from under some ridiculously large piece of machinery and pulled down his goggles.

"Yes Rhade?" he asked, standing up and brushing the dirt off his outfit effortlessly.

"Fix this," Rhade demanded, handing Harper a little metal box.

"Uh..." Harper examined the object in his hands and tilted his head to one side a little, "Rhade, it's just a box."

"Open it," Rhade growled as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Ooookay," Harper did as he was told and was surprised to find a crumpled up piece of paper inside of it.

Under Rhade's watchful glare, Harper worked carefully to unfold the paper without tearing it. After a good twenty seconds of unfolding, Harper finally was holding a complete piece of paper again.

His face paled as he read it.

_I wish I had the courage to tell you this in person…_

"Um..." Harper gulped as he looked up at Rhade.

"Harper, did Beka write this?"

"...no," replied Harper, meekly.

"_Who wrote it then_?"

"...m-me..."

"And _who _exactly was it addressed to?"

"W-well, that's a funny st-story..."

Rhade growled. Harper confessed.

"...you."

Harper jumped behind a table.

* * *

When Beka finally tore her lips from Dylan's, she was out of breath and having a hard time gaining it back. Her arms remained locked around his neck and her face was so close to his that he could feel her breath on his own lips.

Their eyes met. Blue on blue, ice on ice. Raw emotions coming together to create a conclusion that they couldn't understand. Yet.

Beka waited a few minutes before withdrawing from his lap and shifting into a strange stance on the floor, staring up at him again.

"Dylan?" she asked.

"Yes Beka?"

"Can you see me?"

"Yes."

"Can you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Do you love me?"

Dylan stared openly at her. He looked like he wanted to bolt, run away from her and not have to face her question.

Finally, he realized. The answer was so simple. There was no need to run away to run away from it anymore.

"Beka, I—"

He was interrupted by the sound of clanking metal and a loud thud.

"Ahhh...oof!"

Beka and Dylan both turned their heads to see a very disheveled Trance lying helplessly on the floor.

"Trance?" they said in unison and went to help her up.

"Um...hi," Trance said, brushing her hair back.

"What are you doing here?" Beka asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"I...I...um...well—"

"AHHH! TRAAAAAAAAAANCIE!"

Harper burst into to Maru.

"Not again," Trance sighed, her mind momentarily wandering off to Harper's latest predicament, which happened to be Rhade.

Again.

"This whole thing is that twerpy little engineer's fault!" Rhade glared at Harper, who was in his familiar arms-around-Trance's-waist-hiding-behind-her-profile stance.

"I have to agree," Beka sighed.

"I still don't know what's going on," Dylan shook his head.

"IwrotealoveletterfromBekatoRhadesothatthey'dfallinlovewitheachotherbutinsteadDylanfellinlovewithherandnowRommie'sgonna

blowmyheadoffifRhadedoesn'tsuffocatemefirstand—"

Trance clamped a hand down over Harper's mouth before he could go on with his incoherent blurb.

"He means he's sorry for the trouble he's caused," Trance supplied.

"Sorry?" Harper looked up and his expression changed, "Who said anything about..."

Rhade growled.

"...I'm sorry!"

"So am I," Rhade's tone softened a little and he sighed, "I really was looking forward to suffocating you but..."

"But what?" Trance looked at him.

"But it looks like I just lost my chance."

"Exactly," came a new voice from the Maru's door.

All eyes fell upon Rommie, who was looking slightly calmer than the last time anyone had seen her.

At once, a symphony of voices collided together and, thought everyone was screaming about similar things, they couldn't hear each other at all. Presently, Harper was trying to prove his innocence while Dylan, Beka, Rommie and Rhade all came up with reasons as to why they were in this situation.

And poor Trance of course, was left to clamp her hands down over her pointed ears and huddle in a corner hoping desperately that their screams wouldn't blow her away.

"Okay, stop!" Dylan exclaimed finally, realizing that this was getting them no where.

No one listened.

"People! Try to be civilized!" Trance added.

"THEY'RE GONNA EAT ME!" screamed a certain spiky-blonde-haired little man who had no one to crouch down behind since Trance was currently backed up against a wall.

"Shut up! All of you! And that's an order!" the Captain cried.

"Dylan, no one cares that you're the Captain! We've never cared! We just listen to you because we feel bad for the poor Commonwealth!" Beka yelled, though she wasn't quite sure he heard her over the other shouts.

"Oh please stop! I beg of you! Can't we just find a peaceful way to resolve this and come up with a...perfect possible...possibility?" Trance tilted her head to one side and strode over to Harper, "You don't honestly think that this is going to help improve the situation and make any of us feel better, do you?"

"I think that wringing Harper's neck would make us all feel better," Rhade snarled.

"Though choking someone to death is rather...grotesque," Rommie spat back at him bitterly, "This _is_ Harper's fault."

"And Harper should pay for what he's done," Beka suggested.

"Beka! I thought you'd forgiven me already!" Harper looked like he'd just been stabbed.

"I have," Beka shrugged nonchalantly, "But they haven't, and technically, Rommie _is_right...well Rommie's always right, but anyways...you did right the love letter."

"But you have no proof that the letter had any affect on Dylan at all! Hell! We still don't know _why _Dylan went crazy anyways!" Harper looked like his head might explode.

Silence...

...Almost.

"Harper has a point," Rommie said finally, "We don't actually know what caused Dylan to slip into _clearly_ deranged state."

No one liked the way the ship's avatar said "clearly". Particularly Dylan.

"If he was deranged at all..." Beka said softly.

She didn't notice Rhade's eyes narrowing.

"All right...so now that we're all calmed down, can we_please_ get back to Command and talk this out properly? Perhaps even find a cause for Dylan's previous state?" Trance said after a few minutes.

Dylan sighed, "Fine. All crew report to Command in fifteen minutes."

He fled the Maru before anyone could challenge his order. Rhade was next, stalking angrily out of the little cargo ship, cursing madly under his breath with Rommie following a few meters behind wearing no expression. Beka stood dazed for a few minutes and was brought suddenly out of her thoughts when Trance placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry," she said, "Things will work out, they always do."

Beka's lips quirked, "Maybe they've already started to. Trance...I...I think..."

Trance smiled warmly, but then remembered that Harper was in the room and was staring at them with eyes the sizes of saucers.

"You should go cool off," the golden girl advised, "You look pretty worked up."

"Yeah," Beka ran a hand through her now messy blonde hair, "I'll see you soon."

She treaded silently now. Her footsteps were like those of a cat's, soft, so soft that when she left the room, Trance couldn't be sure whether she'd left the Maru all together.

Trance turned to look at Harper, who was now standing on his own, which was actually quite an improvement.

"Is it really my fault?" he asked, his eyes huge.

"Oh Harper," Trance's fingers trailed through his hair, "I suppose we're going to find out."

* * *

A/N: This just keeps getting longer and longer…I'll try to add another chapter by tomorrow. Please don't give up on me! I _will _finish this! Beka will have a happy ending! (With Rhade!). 


	13. Resolving

**Chapter Thirteen: Resolving**

* * *

Twenty minutes later the entire crew of the Andromeda stood on the Command Deck waiting eagerly for someone to say the first word.

Trance, Harper, Beka and Rhade all stood in a circle around one of the main consoles competing with each other to see who could go the longest without blinking. It wasn't intentional of course, but there wasn't much else to do about the silence.

Dylan and Rommie stood of to one corner, quietly discussing the current situation. If a Captain and his warship arguing about feelings could possibly be called a quiet discussion of course.

"This is really slowing down our mission," said Rommie pointedly.

"We've been drifting in the same radius for the nearly a month, I can tell it's slowing down our mission," Dylan replied.

"All I'm saying is that this is a...I am a professional High Guard warship, not a setting for some emotional holo-novel drama. I insist that we deal with this problem straight-forwardly and as soon as possible or at least some time before the Maggog Worldship decides to blow me up!" the android fumed.

"Aside from the part about you being a professional High Guard warship, that statement sounded freakishly Nietzschean, Rommie..." was Dylan's response.

"You're getting off topic," Rommie argued gently.

"Right. What's the topic again?"

"What are we going to do about this?"

"'This what?"

"You know...this."

"This?"

"_This_," Rommie nodded her head in the direction of the crew, surprisingly, none of them noticed.

"Oh," Dylan looked down, "Right, that."

"No, not _that_, this."

Dylan stared. Rommie smiled.

"Did you just make a joke?" he asked as though it was the craziest thing in the universe.

"Is that so hard to believe Dylan?" she raised her head higher.

"No..." Dylan's mind wandered off again, "We're still off topic."

"Right. Crew. Problem."

Unbeknownst to both of them, Rhade's keen ears had long since picked up on Rommie and Dylan's hushed voices. The Nietzschean had comprehended the entire conversation, and quite frankly, he was getting sick of it.

"Are you done yet?" he asked, finally, annoyance evident in his voice.

Rommie and Dylan turned and looked at them, then they looked at each other and paused to think.

"Is it just me..." Trance whispered to Harper, who was standing next to her, "Or are Dylan and Rommie behaving a little..."

"Strange? Awkward? Completely unlike themselves?" Harper raised his eyebrows, "The emotional holo-novel drama-likeness of the situation must be getting to them."

"You have no idea," Rhade added.

"Can we please hurry up?" Beka pleaded.

All eyes turned and fell on the Valentine, who hadn't said a single word to anyone since they'd stepped onto Command. Rommie tossed Dylan a glance, as if trying to remind him that she and him were not the only people on Command.

"Uh...right, let's get started," Dylan linked his hands behind his back in the typical High Guard Officer stance and walked towards his crew with Rommie in tow.

They stood in a circle now, instead of two small clusters, each crewmate unwilling to meet each others eyes, with the exception of Trance and Harper who were exchanging glances. Trance's were concerned, Harper—as usual—were flirty. Trance rolled her eyes and Harper got the idea that if they had been alone, she might've smacked him for having such a one-track mind. A mind that was either messing around with Andromeda's systems (and that could be a good thing and a bad thing all at once) or nestled in the depths of the gutter.

"Due to recent events..." Dylan's voice brought Trance and Harper out of their silent conversation, "We have been unable to function properly as a crew, like we usually would. However, now that _most _of these problems have been sorted out , I'd like to take this time to..."

He glanced at Rommie, who shrugged first and then nodded. A strange combination, but it was all Dylan had to go on.

"I would like to apologize for my earlier actions, none of which..." now his eyes fell upon Beka, whose own eyes were fixated on the floor, "...were intentional. I also would like to apologize for not being able to perform my various responsibilities as Captain of this ship."

It was quiet for a long while, but despite the lack of conversation, there was a lot going on in each crew member's mind. Rhade was currently registering everything Dylan had said and pondering upon whether or not it was enough. Though Beka's face looked blank and emotionless, she was fighting an inner war...one which she was determined to win. Trance and Harper were still conducting there wordless conversation, something which perhaps not even the wisest person in the universe could ever fathom.

But the one thing that everyone had in common was that they all knew that they had something to apologize for. Since Dylan had already come out and bravely apologized for things that were quite embarrassing for one to talk about, each person believed that it was their responsibility as well to own up to whatever faults they had. Of course, that didn't change the fact that everyone thought that the reason they were in the situation, was definitely because of something Harper had done...almost everyone at least.

So it greatly surprised all of them when they found that Rommie was the first to speak.

"I would like to apologize as well," she said somberly.

Rommie's stance was more formal than Dylan's, she kept her head straight and eyes focused somewhat proudly. Truly though, she was just as unnerved (or in her case, unwired) as Dylan had been.

"I apologize for being selfish, and putting my own personal feelings and concerns above the wellbeing of the crew," she paused, "I would especially like to apologize to Beka..."

At the sound of her name, Beka raised her blonde head and looked at Rommie with an almost questioning glance.

"Because..." Rommie continued, "Because Beka is indeed a wonderful pilot and Captain and friend...and in the past few weeks I can't say that I've been such a good friend."

She paused again, and if she had been human, there probably would have been a very painful lump swelling up inside her throat.

"I'm sorry..." Rommie bowed her head a little.

Beka's questioning eyes had changed to admiring ones. Yes, Rommie was a warship. Yes, Rommie had emotions. But she was also a very proud, emotional warship, and for her apologize and to admit a fault, was like asking Rhade to commit suicide. It was a very unlikely chance, but when it involved a friend's own feelings, certain things could be reconsidered.

"I'm sorry as well," Rhade said, out of the blue, his glare set on Harper.

Harper nearly had a heart attack. A Nietzschean. Apologizing. To him. Now the engineer had seen it all (except for a willing woman in his bed...).

"...I'm sorry for conjuring up an intricate and complicated plan to ship Dylan off to a mental ailment institution."

"Um...thank you Rhade for that...enlightening feeling," Dylan said, stunned.

Harper glared, "It wasn't so enlightening when that Damn Niet—"

Rommie placed a firm hand on Harper's shoulder and squeezed it just hard enough for him to feel an momentary jolt of pain, then she gave him a quick look to tell him to shut up before Rhade broke his nose again.

"Uh right, how gracious of you Rhade..." Harper finished quickly and then he added to Rommie, "It's good to have you back...you haven't hurt me in weeks."

"I missed you too Harper," Rommie nodded appreciatively.

"I'm sorry," Trance chirped happily...a little _too_ happily.

"For what exactly?" Dylan asked.

"For..." Trance searched her mind, "Oh, for knocking you out."

Dylan turned to Rommie, "She knocked me out?"

"It's a long story," Trance said hastily.

"I guess I should apologize too then..." Beka interrupted, "I'm sorry for nearly murdering Harper—"

"I'm not," Rhade muttered just loud enough for Harper to hear him.

"As I was saying," Beka raised her voice slightly, "I'm sorry I've been so out of it lately."

"You're not the only one Beka," Trance smiled brightly in an effort to cheer her friend up, "We've all sort of neglected our duties recently...we should all be evenly responsible."

And then, everyone's focused turned to Seamus Harper. Engineer, love-life failure, and apparently, root cause of the situation. Or at least, that's how Dylan, Beka, Rhade and Rommie would have put it.

"Guys..." Harper began meekly, "I...I don't even know what to say..."

He looked genuinely sorry.

"I just wanted..." his face flushed slightly and he gripped Trance's hand incase Rhade decided to jump him for what he was about to say next, "...I tried to get Rhade and Beka together...and...and..."

Harper's huge eyes watched every muscle that twitched in Rhade's face. Nietzscheans had unbelievable reflexes, and Harper wanted to be sure that he would have just enough time to jump behind Trance should the occasion ever arise.

"Go on Harper," Dylan said in a low tone.

"Right. Um...I don't really know what caused Dylan to become obsessed with Beka...maybe the letter I wrote from Rhade to her had something to do with it but I can't be sure," he looked at Beka, "But whatever did happen...I probably had a hand in it and...well...I screwed up, okay? I really, really screwed up, and I'm sorry. I am really, really sorry...especially to you Beka."

Beka smiled, and suddenly Harper didn't feel so terrified anymore.

"Oh Seamus..." she rolled her eyes, "C'mere."

She would regret those words. Harper collided with her so hard that despite his smaller frame, he nearly knocked her over. Fortunately, Rhade placed a gentle had on her back and kept her steady.

When he eventually pulled away after some time of squeezing Beka to death, Harper looked up, silently pleading at Rhade.

The Nietzschean's razor sharp gaze softened somewhat.

"All right Harper, I forgive just don't—"

Harper hugged him.

Dylan and Rommie looked away, Trance smiled, Beka nearly burst out laughing.

"Get off me you, puny human..." Rhade growled and clawed Harper off him.

And even though he knew that Rhade's nails would leave more bruises on his neck, Harper managed to smile at the thought that things were getting back to normal.

Hopefully.

* * *

A/N: THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE FIC.

Seriously...


	14. Questions Answered

**Chapter Fourteen: Questions Answered**

* * *

"How're the repairs coming along Mr.Harper?" Dylan asked, the next day down in Engineering.

"Well...it's not as bad as I thought it would be," Harper paused to look at Dylan, "We should be up and shooting down Nietzscheans in just a few days now."

"Allright then," the Captain answered, "Carry on."

Harper grimaced at the old, Highguard tone that came along with Dylan's request. The engineer decided that Dylan needed to get off the ship more often...

"Hi!"

Both Dylan and Harper jumped, when Trance suddenly appeared out of...

"Nowhere!" Harper exclaimed, "How do you keep popping in out of nowhere?"

"Umm..." Trance mused, and glanced at Dylan who—much to her dismay—looked just as questioning as Harper, "...So how are repairs coming along?"

Harper sighed and began explaining what exactly was wrong with the ship, and how long it would take to fix it. Apparently, he'd given up on solving the intricate puzzle that was Trance Gemini. Dylan watched as Harper babbled on about things that the Captain wasn't quite sure were true. Trance simply smiled, nodded and sat there looking pretty and curious.

With a knowing smile on his face, Dylan silently went to exit the room, but before he did, Trance called out to him.

"Beka wants to see you," was all she said.

"The feeling is mutual," Dylan rang back.

The smile remained on his face.

* * *

As Beka sat in the Eureka Maru, a familiar tune reached her ears. It took her less than a few minutes to register where she first heard the song and a little more time than that for her to realize that she was humming it herself.

It had been awhile since she'd hummed much of anything, it was something she only did when she was content with herself and those around her. She smiled and went on humming, so lost in the gentle melody that she didn't even notice Dylan walk in and stare at her.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said, in a regular voice.

"Hm?" she turned around in her seat and looked up at him, "Nope. Not at all."

"Good," he sat down casually, "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, I did," she took a few moments and thought to herself, musing upon what she was going to say.

It was going to go somewhat along the lines about what her feelings towards him were, or lack there of. She'd taken into consideration the past month's events and had carefully compiled her thoughts to come to a fitting conclusion that would satisfy them both. She hoped.

She wanted to tell him from the very start that perhaps there _might _have been something between them, but she realized now that it could never be. It wasn't much of a sad thing, no, it was simply a truthful revelation. Beka's eyes traced his figure slowly. He seemed calm, not at all worried or even anxious as to what she was about to tell him. Beka nearly laughed when she realized that he looked as though she could punch him in the face, and he would still have that friendly, endearing smile gracing his lips.

As the words came closer to formation, Beka smiled herself, taking note of the fact that this would be the first time in a long time that she would be able to speak truthfully without having to take a deep breath first. Then, taking everything that had happened in the past while and swallowing it whole, she opened her mouth to let Dylan Hunt know, what was on her mind—or rather, her heart.

"Did you know that Rommie can sing better than I can?" she said.

What a lovely start.

"Well, I wouldn't know," Dylan—as Beka had predicted—went on smiling, "I've never heard her sing."

"Then you should," Beka shrugged, "Because she can _really _sing, that woman."

"I'm sure she can," Dylan replied wholeheartedly.

"She's up in Command right now, if you want to go ask her to sing for you, I'm sure she would."

"Maybe I will."

"Good..." Beka's smile grew wider, "You know, we made one hell of a couple."

"You bet we did," he returned the grin.

"Hmm...so then, _Captain_," Beka teased, "You'd better get to Command."

"But how can I leave you, Beka darling?."

It took ten minutes for them to pick themselves off the floor, their stomachs aching from the laughter that had erupted from both the Captain and his First officer.

"Y'know...I kinda got the idea that you had gone off the deep end when you called me enchantingly beautiful," Beka wrapped her arms around her torso.

Dylan winced, "Can we forget that please?"

"I only hope you've never used that line on any other woman."

"Well..."

More laughter.

Tension? What Tension?

They were both just happy that they could be friends again.

Just friends.

And they wouldn't have had it any other way.

"Excuse me?" another voice interrupted the frenzy.

Suddenly, Dylan was gone, leaving a bewildered Beka sitting on the floor looking up into the chocolate brown eyes belonging to Telemachus Rhade.

"Hiya," Beka said casually, pulling the collar of her sweater back over her shoulder.

He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway with one eyebrow raised and an amused expression on his lovely features.

"Feeling silent today, now are we Mr.Nietzschean?" Beka giggled, and then a few seconds later, wanted to slap her self for saying something so incredibly stupid.

"Feeling like Harper today, now are we Captain Valentine?" he replied in a thick, rich voice, that both mocked and pleased Beka at the same time.

"Yeah, yeah, okay," Beka smiled sheepishly, "I take it back...it was stupid..."

Rhade smiled back and offered her a hand, one which she accepted and used to pull herself up.

"Um..." Beka looked around, "Where'd Dylan go?"

"Up to Command I think," Rhade shrugged.

"Good," she replied in a satisfied voice.

"Why?"

"He wants to hear Rommie sing."

"She can sing?" Rhade looked disbelieving.

"Well, I had to tell him something..." she half-shrugged, half-smirked, "It's about time for him to start admiring her a bit more."

"It's unlikely that there will be any sort of intimate relationship between them," Rhade frowned, "Dylan's too focused on his mission..."

"When has that ever stopped him?" Beka's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Point taken. But I doubt he'd allow himself to engage in any sort of...interaction that would suggest anything more than friendship with Rommie...Hell, I doubt that _she_ would allow it."

"You'd be surprised at what a little persuasion can do."

"No I wouldn't, I'm Nietzschean, I make it a point not to—"

"Be surprised. I know. But you were when Dylan waltzed into Command that splendid day..." Beka grinned and she caught a small glint of a certain emotion in Rhade's eyes which only furthered her amusement.

"Getting back on track..." he lowered his voice, "I don't think any good could come of Dylan and Rommie—"

"Oh ye of little faith," Beka rolled her eyes, "Use those damn Nietzschean senses of yours and try to see that they belong with one another."

"Your theory seems a little one-sided to me..."

"Never stopped me before."

"What are you suggesting?"

"You know...the whole one-sidedness of our feelings for other people..." she sat down and began to explain casually.

"_Our_ feelings?" Rhade asked, as though it was the craziest thing in the world to say.

"I mean people in general."

"Oh."

She peered closely at him, "What did you think I meant?"

"Nothing..."

"Well then you'd be wrong. Because I did mean something and that something is that it sucks when you love someone, and they don't love you back."

"You're one to talk," Rhade half-scoffed, "When have your feelings ever been one-sided? You're not deprived of people returning your feelings. Hell, back on Seefra, all you had to do was look at a guy to get him in bed."

"That's not what I meant," Beka's eyes narrowed in anger, "And are you calling me a—"

"That's not what I meant either," Rhade said quickly.

"Good."

Beka stood up after a few minutes of silence and decided to experiment.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Rhade asked warily, he didn't like the way her piercing blue eyes were boring through him like a buzz saw.

"Hmm..." Beka frowned, but it wasn't a very sincere frown, "I guess my stare only works on Seefra."

She shrugged and started towards the exit, and just as she passed him, she pecked her lips on his cheek.

Once again someone aboard the Andromeda Ascendant had proved that Nietzscheans could indeed, be surprised.

* * *

A/N: No. Despite popular belief, Orion is not dead. She is still alive and kicking. Well not so much the kicking part. I'm terribly sorry I've abandoned this fic for over a month. I pray that people haven't lost _all_ interest in it. I don't really like how this is turning out...though, as promised, I will pair up Beka and Rhade. I hope that I've already made it clear that Rhade does have feelings for Beka (hence the jealousy in earlier chapters) now all I have to do is get Beka to return the favour. As for Dylan and Rommie, they will not end up in a relationship, I'm just sort of hinting at something between them because I don't think I could ever write a happily-ever-after ending for them. There is still one more thing to be revealed in future chapters and oddly enough, it has mainly to do with the two "innocent crewmembers"

This should be interesting.


	15. As Per Norm

**Chapter Fifteen: As Per Norm**

* * *

For the first time in over a month, life aboard the starship Andromeda was beginning to return to normal.

As normal as jumping around the universe and blowing up bad guys could be.

Trance Gemini observed her crewmates fondly, taking the time to realize how close and how important their relationships with each other had grown. It occurred to her that perhaps that was part of the reason she was here, not the entire reason of course, but a good portion of it. Primarily her mission had been to guide Dylan to, in simple speech, save the Universe, and of course, their precious Commonwealth. But in the process, she realized that they had made other great accomplishments as well. Although none were as great as defeating the ultimate evil that was inevitably approaching them, they would surely have a hand in helping them achieve their goal.

She turned her head to gaze more closely at Captain Hunt and wondered if perhaps he had served to guide her more to understanding than she had done for him. Trance wasn't sure. She smiled as he punched at controls, which he chose randomly. She could tell because of the grin on his face that said he was just happy to be Captain Hunt again, flying around in that big-'ol-whoop-ass-warship of his, saving the universe one abyss-infested bad guy at a time.

"Beka," he said.

"Yes Dylan?" she rolled her eyes towards him, equally as happy that things were falling back into their proper places.

He sighed contentedly and gripped his console, "Transmit to slipstream."

"Aye."

The ride through slipstream---Trance pondered---was supposed to be the only way to travel faster than light without...well, corrupting the flow of time. The ride was relatively smooth—give or take the frequent, sudden jolts that they had all grown so used to that no one ever really cared anymore. But somehow today's ride was different. Trance frowned as she tried to identify the missing element. Perhaps it was that this was the first time in what seemed like an _eternity _that Dylan, Beka, Rhade, Harper, Rommie and herself had all ridden together in slipstream since the Nietzscheans had unleashed their brain-disorienting weapon.

Or maybe it was that...

"They're doing it again."

Trance smirked and tilted her head upwards to see Harper above her, staring in a different direction, from a raised platform. She marched up the steps to join him.

"After all this...and they _still_ are—"

Trance cut him off; she placed an arm around his neck and wound him closer towards her, just tight enough to make him squirm.

"I should think that _you_ of _all_ people would be glad that things are returning to normal," she said in a low tone.

Harper untangled himself from her grip and crossed his arms over his chest, staring intently at the ground.

"Yeah but...it's just, I thought that maybe, after seeing how Rhade could lose Beka to Dylan any minute—"

"I don't think that's true."

"Well she almost did."

"Dylan is..." Trance's voice trailed off for a minute, "He's kind, and gentle, and strong and brave, and he owns one of the most powerful—"

"_The_ most powerful."

"Sorry. _The_ most powerful warship in the known worlds," she gave him a quirky smile and went on, "He's out fighting for what he believes in every single day. Plus, well...he's not particularly ugly either so..."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Harper's serious expression vanished and he broke into a grin, "You think he's dead sexy don't you, Trancie?"

"Harper!" she frowned momentarily and gave him a signature Beka-punch to the shoulder, "_As_ I was saying...it was not inhuman for Beka to have responded to his approaches, however...impulsive, they may have been."

Harper nodded and Trance gave him a knowing look. The stared in opposite directions for a few minutes before Harper decided that he'd elicit another exasperated look from Trance.

"So...then you don't think Beka and Rhade will ever get it on?"

Exasperated she was, and perhaps a little disturbed as well.

"That depends on them I suppose..." Trance replied, despite the crudity of his question.

"Depends on what?" Rommie entered the conversation, looking a little more...cheerful than usual.

"Hey! Romdoll! You're back to normal again!" Harper grinned.

"What do you mean? I was always normal," Rommie frowned slightly.

"Like, y'know, about a week ago, you were practically green with—"

"Harper..." Trance warned.

"...motion...sickness...?" Harper tried to save himself, and readied his body to flee if Rommie had already predicted what he was actually going to say and what it would have implying about.

Surprisingly, Rommie reacted with a half-playful, half-edgy smile and gently patted Harper shoulder.

"Well," Trance shrugged, casually changing the subject, "It's nice to see the Command Deck bustling with life once again."

"And synthetic life," Dylan added, popping up behind Harper.

"Indeed," Rommie smiled, and turned to hide an invisible blush.

Even Harper managed to grin, despite his constant desire for Rommie in all her synthetic glory.

The idle chat continued between the four of them, with Dylan and Harper leading the conversation and Trance and Rommie occasionally commenting or whacking the engineer for saying something stupid.

Over by the piloting consoles, Beka was happier than ever to be operating Andromeda's manual flying controls. Her smile widened as she heard laughter and conversation coming from the four crewmembers huddled together by the Weapons Console.

"It's nice to see things getting back to how they should be," Rhade's voice only semi-penetrated Beka's positive thoughts.

"Yup," she replied.

"You certainly seem to be enjoying yourself."

"I certainly am."

He watched her. But only because she let him, he could tell. She broke the silence before long.

"How about you? Enjoying yourself?" Beka said voice that told him not to take it at face value.

Not that he'd been planning to anyways.

"Very much so," he gave her confident smile.

It was an actual smile for once, which Beka found quite refreshing—a break from his usual cocky, Nietzschean smirk, and more like a familiar Rhade-trademark. Beka found that she'd missed that smile and felt oddly proud that he'd given it to her. Probably because she sensed something more in his eyes when she turned to look at him. It was so intriguing, that she told Andromeda to switch to autopilot so that she could turn her body towards him. Rhade went right on smiling whilst Beka studied his expression with expertise that she often underestimated in herself. But even as she continued examine him, she could not seem to decipher that one particular element in his eyes.

"Beka?" he said her name calmly.

And suddenly her knees felt weak.

"Yes?" she asked.

He kept smiling.

And it hit her.

Respect.

He _respected _her.

It had never seemed like such a big deal to her, she realized, but the reality of the matter was that respect was extremely important to her. After Tyr, she'd felt like a used object to everyone. She was just the...progenitor. Even Harper had looked at her a little different after the whole ordeal was over and Tyr had died that lonely death that went along with the whole 'King of the Nietzscheans' scam...thing. Whatever.

Slowly Beka became aware of his smile once again. He wasn't forcing it on her, as crazy at is sounded when she played in in her head, he was offering his respect. His...feelings...?

"I'm a little..." her voice trailed off, and she tilted her head.

He let out a throaty chuckle and rested his hand on her arm gently.

"A little..." he encouraged her with his eyes as well as his words.

"...I'm...confused...at least...I think I am..." she began to feel a little ridiculous as she stumbled over his words.

After all, it was just_ Rhade_.

...right?

Beka wasn't sure anymore.

"You're not as confused as you think you are Beka," he patted her forearm.

"Am I?" she whispered, "I don't even know anymore."

She blushed, wholly unsure of what she was saying...why was she complicating things unnecessarily?

That was Dylan's job. Beka wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

She shook the hair out of her eyes...or at least she would have if Rhade hadn't reached out to gently swipe away the unnatural golden strands. The minute his fingers accidentally brushed her skin, she could feel the heat rising to her cheeks, and what was worse was that she knew he felt it too. What she didn't know however, was that heat had risen to somewhere else as well, and it was creating a dull sense of longing within her.

"Maru?" she said, once again looking to the ground because she feared of what she might do if she were to look in his eyes again.

"Sure."

And then they were gone, but they left behind something that ensured the four remaining crewmembers on the Command Deck that perhaps not _everything_ was going to be the same as before.

But perhaps that wasn't such a bad thing.

* * *

A/N: Eh...sorry, I'm not a great romance writer. I tried my best.

Happy Holidays to everyone!


	16. EPILOGUE

**Epilogue**

* * *

"Pass me one more o' those, Trancie," Harper slurred. 

"I think you've had too many already," Trance rolled her pretty eyes and yanked the beverage out of his reach.

"Y'can never'ave too many o'those..." Harper gave her a goofy smile.

Trance raised an eyebrow.

"Harper, stop pretending to slur. You're not even drunk."

"Uhhh..."

"You just had too many colas," she said.

Harper pouted, "You didn't have to go and ruin the fun like that," he snatched the Sparky Cola from her grasp and swallowed half of it in one long swig.

Trance laughed as she watched him choke and nearly throw it all up.

"Told you..." she smiled.

Once Harper had pulled himself together, which took quite a while, considering that that had been his eighth Sparky Cola in less than three hours, he sat up straight and began to glare at the two other crewmembers who occupied the Mess Hall.

"What is it _now_?" Trance sighed.

"_Them_, just look at _them_, acting all couply and—"

"Couply?"

"Yeah!"

Indeed, Beka Valentine and Telemachus Rhade had grown considerably close in the past few weeks. One would guess that the entire incident with Dylan and his hyper-Beka state would have shaken their relation ship a bit. In which case, one would be correct. Beka and Rhade spent most of their free time together, and much to Harper's dismay, they did so in public quite often.

At the sound of Beka's laughter, which was always a bit more feminine and appealing in Rhade's presence, Harper's glare darkened.

Trance shook her head, almost in frustration.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"_Me_?"

"Yes_ you_. You're the one, who was complaining about Rhade and Beka playing hard-to-get in the first place, and now their finally getting along—quite nicely I might add—and you seem even more upset!"

"Yeah well...well...argh! That Damn Nietzschean!" Harper growled.

"What do you have against him?

"Besides the fact that he's some self-absorbed, physically superior, genetically modified Niet who won't let us forget it?"

She still looked somewhat skeptical. Harper crossed his arms and pouted like a child.

"I just..." his gaze softened, "I've seen Beka get hurt so many times. And after the whole Tyr betrayal thing...I don't think she can take something like that happening to her again. I'm beginning to think that I'd prefer her with Dylan...at least that way...well I mean...Dylan is...y'know, he's Dylan. He'd never hurt her. But I can't tell with Rhade, and well, I don't want Beka to get hurt again. That...that scares me..." Harper's voice trailed off towards the end.

Trance pondered upon what he'd said before responding. She reached out and gently stroked his cheek.

"It's wonderful that you care so much for Beka, Harper, I think she appreciates it very much. But she's a big girl, she can take care of herself. I agree that she's had her share of heartbreaks...but she's strong, and that's what's made her strong."

"I guess..." Harper gave Trance a weak smile, "...Maybe Rhade's not _so_ bad...he was the first one who laughed at my jokes."

"He was being polite."

"Whatever. He laughed."

"Besides..." Trance smiled as she looked at Beka and Rhade, "The future doesn't look all that gloomy for them."

Harper gave her a questioning look, then he quirked an eyebrow.

"Can you really see the future?"

"I don't have to be able to see the future," she grinned.

Indeed, they looked over to Rhade and Beka, who were in the process of attempting to stand up and leave the Mess Hall. Unfortunately, they kept bumping into each other, which only served to illicit giggles from Beka who blushed and clamped a hand over her mouth. After realizing that there was simply _no_ possible way to leave the room without touching each other. They simple turned around and began to walk away.

Hand in hand.

"That's...a little pathetic," Harper stated.

"You're one to talk," Trance smiled and took his hand.

"Do you think Dylan's forgiven me for what I did to him? Where is he anyways? I haven't seen him around as often," asked Harper, changing the subject.

"I think he's on the Obs Deck," Trance replied.

"Shouldn't he be attending to the Commonwealth and worrying his head off about the next Nietzschean attack?"

"I believe he's busy investigating on whether or not androids can actually sing."

Harper gave her a quirky look and then decided to ignore the nagging feeling that usually told him where his dear Rommie was.

"Do you think Dylan's forgiven me yet? For his crazy-spree?" he asked, chewing on an almond thoughtfully.

"Hmm...hard to say. That would imply that he truly believes that you were at fault..." she said.

"Why are you smiling at me like that Trance...?"

"Hmm..."

"You're petting my hair again..."

"Well...let's just say, all's well that end's well? Beka ended up with Rhade anyways so...it worked right?"

"_What_ worked?"

"You know, jealousy is a very powerful tool."

"What are you talking about?"

Harper squinted his eyes at her and suddenly, something in his head half-clicked.

"Wait a minute...Trance...a-are you saying that..."

She stopped petting his hair.

"Harper..."

Trance smiled.

"Would you like a chocolate?"

Harper wasn't sure. Did he? Probably not, judging by the way she was smiling at him. It was a very un-golden-Trance smile. He was reminded of his old purple, sparkly, tail-twirling friend and it tugged at his heartstrings.

For weeks afterwards, she would constantly smile at him that way. And Seamus Harper could only shake his head and smile slightly as he watched Rhade's arm slip around Beka's waist. Perhaps they did owe it all to a certain Trance Gemini.

Or perhaps, instead, it was that one day.

The day, the Captain went crazy.

* * *

Well folks! It's finally over and all has been revealed...well, not really. Trance was the one behind everything, but I think it's more in tune with her character to leave some mystery behind, just for fun, seeing as Trance is mysterious character. I've also left and open ending as to where to Beka/Rhade relationship will go, though I think it's a little obvious that they'll be more than friends, it goes along more with their actual relationship in the series, which is what I've been striving for. 

Aaaand...I've just realized that I've forgotten a key element in this fic...

The Disclaimer. OO

Andromeda and all related, characters, locations, logos, ideas, etc. plus its original storyline are all © Tribune Entertainment Company. No infringement intended.

I hope no one sues me.

Anyhow, onto the credits.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this fic and to the reviewers who offered their kind words of encouragement as well as their constructive critism that helped me improve the storyline and my overall writing skills. I appreciate all the praise I received for this fic from everyone who reviewed. Thank you to Tribune and all the orginal, brilliant, creators of Andromeda who have given some pathetic writer a life (of her own). Thanks to everyone who took time out of their day to read this fic, and all the fans of Andromeda who managed to restrain their extreme desire to murder me and/or hack my computer and delete all my files, because of what I did to Dylan. Or what I _didn't_do toDylan.

And here the are folks, in no particular order, the wonderful people that reviewed while the fic was being written and boosted my ego! Hail them!

Spectre, Squid 109, RagdollStuffy, prin69, Janet, Jamieson Z, bunny-bot, Thristle, LadyBianca, TranceGemmy, eris86, Troll99, Yay, Nobody, maleck, Beka Rhade, I-luv-PurpleChiX, PeaceKeeper DR,

T'was very fun to write this fic, I really enjoyed it, though, I think I'm better cut out for oneshots...less committment. Anyways, one more great big THANK YOU to everyone who read and supported this fic. You're_all_ ubersuperwildCRAZYAMAZING!

I'm off to Slipstream now. See you next time.

----Orion


End file.
